{"id":"01KG8AKAMPHM3TWPBSVRA6WKHD","cid":"bafkreianr7ocezfmndsmoxzzqqdpupf7nm5lbxjosrbm5x4oeblg4apf4y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9420,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.726Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":9364,"text":"been something else than what he was, he would not have been trusted,\r\nand, therefore, he would have been effectually shut out from running his\r\nown and wife's head into the usurer's noose; yet those who, when\r\neverything at last came out, maintained that, in this view and to this\r\nextent, the honesty of the candle-maker was no advantage to him, in so\r\nsaying, such persons said what every good heart must deplore, and no\r\nprudent tongue will admit.\r\n\r\n\"It may be mentioned, that the old farmer made China Aster take part of\r\nhis loan in three old dried-up cows and one lame horse, not improved by\r\nthe glanders. These were thrown in at a pretty high figure, the old\r\nmoney-lender having a singular prejudice in regard to the high value of\r\nany sort of stock raised on his farm. With a great deal of difficulty,\r\nand at more loss, China Aster disposed of his cattle at public auction,\r\nno private purchaser being found who could be prevailed upon to invest.\r\nAnd now, raking and scraping in every way, and working early and late,\r\nChina Aster at last started afresh, nor without again largely and\r\nconfidently extending himself. However, he did not try his hand at the\r\nspermaceti again, but, admonished by experience, returned to tallow.\r\nBut, having bought a good lot of it, by the time he got it into candles,\r\ntallow fell so low, and candles with it, that his candles per pound\r\nbarely sold for what he had paid for the tallow. Meantime, a year's\r\nunpaid interest had accrued on Orchis' loan, but China Aster gave\r\nhimself not so much concern about that as about the interest now due to\r\nthe old farmer. But he was glad that the principal there had yet some\r\ntime to run. However, the skinny old fellow gave him some trouble by\r\ncoming after him every day or two on a scraggy old white horse,\r\nfurnished with a musty old saddle, and goaded into his shambling old\r\npaces with a withered old raw hide. All the neighbors said that surely\r\nDeath himself on the pale horse was after poor China Aster now. And\r\nsomething so it proved; for, ere long, China Aster found himself\r\ninvolved in troubles mortal enough.\r\n\r\nAt this juncture Orchis was heard of. Orchis, it seemed had returned\r\nfrom his travels, and clandestinely married, and, in a kind of queer\r\nway, was living in Pennsylvania among his wife's relations, who, among\r\nother things, had induced him to join a church, or rather semi-religious\r\nschool, of Come-Outers; and what was still more, Orchis, without coming\r\nto the spot himself, had sent word to his agent to dispose of some of\r\nhis property in Marietta, and remit him the proceeds. Within a year\r\nafter, China Aster received a letter from Orchis, commending him for his\r\npunctuality in paying the first year's interest, and regretting the\r\nnecessity that he (Orchis) was now under of using all his dividends; so\r\nhe relied upon China Aster's paying the next six months' interest, and\r\nof course with the back interest. Not more surprised than alarmed, China\r\nAster thought of taking steamboat to go and see Orchis, but he was saved\r\nthat expense by the unexpected arrival in Marietta of Orchis in person,\r\nsuddenly called there by that strange kind of capriciousness lately\r\ncharacterizing him. No sooner did China Aster hear of his old friend's\r\narrival than he hurried to call upon him. He found him curiously rusty\r\nin dress, sallow in cheek, and decidedly less gay and cordial in manner,\r\nwhich the more surprised China Aster, because, in former days, he had\r\nmore than once heard Orchis, in his light rattling way, declare that all\r\nhe (Orchis) wanted to make him a perfectly happy, hilarious, and\r\nbenignant man, was a voyage to Europe and a wife, with a free\r\ndevelopment of his inmost nature.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWB4PV4EMCJY73T33E","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMTG5KGKNDGAK483M52","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMTEK5HHQPD331VEBQ9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.662Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.829Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}