{"id":"01KG8AKAMT149RTEFAPZDPZKYS","cid":"bafkreiagds2ce2cn2yaxmtyn73oqqdlxlkt5qxuyhcbhzgdh4n63q6pnvm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9269,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.726Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":9211,"text":"down to the check under the stone, and then slapping his pocket, 'the\r\ncheck shall lie there if you say so, but your note shan't keep it\r\ncompany. In fact, China Aster, I am too sincerely your friend to take\r\nadvantage of a passing fit of the blues in you. You _shall_ reap the\r\nbenefit of my friendship.' With which, buttoning up his coat in a\r\njiffy, away he ran, leaving the check behind.\r\n\r\n\"At first, China Aster was going to tear it up, but thinking that this\r\nought not to be done except in the presence of the drawer of the check,\r\nhe mused a while, and picking it up, trudged back to the candlery, fully\r\nresolved to call upon Orchis soon as his day's work was over, and\r\ndestroy the check before his eyes. But it so happened that when China\r\nAster called, Orchis was out, and, having waited for him a weary time in\r\nvain, China Aster went home, still with the check, but still resolved\r\nnot to keep it another day. Bright and early next morning he would a\r\nsecond time go after Orchis, and would, no doubt, make a sure thing of\r\nit, by finding him in his bed; for since the lottery-prize came to him,\r\nOrchis, besides becoming more cheery, had also grown a little lazy. But\r\nas destiny would have it, that same night China Aster had a dream, in\r\nwhich a being in the guise of a smiling angel, and holding a kind of\r\ncornucopia in her hand, hovered over him, pouring down showers of small\r\ngold dollars, thick as kernels of corn. 'I am Bright Future, friend\r\nChina Aster,' said the angel, 'and if you do what friend Orchis would\r\nhave you do, just see what will come of it.' With which Bright Future,\r\nwith another swing of her cornucopia, poured such another shower of\r\nsmall gold dollars upon him, that it seemed to bank him up all round,\r\nand he waded about in it like a maltster in malt.\r\n\r\n\"Now, dreams are wonderful things, as everybody knows--so wonderful,\r\nindeed, that some people stop not short of ascribing them directly to\r\nheaven; and China Aster, who was of a proper turn of mind in everything,\r\nthought that in consideration of the dream, it would be but well to wait\r\na little, ere seeking Orchis again. During the day, China Aster's mind\r\ndwelling continually upon the dream, he was so full of it, that when Old\r\nPlain Talk dropped in to see him, just before dinnertime, as he often\r\ndid, out of the interest he took in Old Honesty's son, China Aster told\r\nall about his vision, adding that he could not think that so radiant an\r\nangel could deceive; and, indeed, talked at such a rate that one would\r\nhave thought he believed the angel some beautiful human philanthropist.\r\nSomething in this sort Old Plain Talk understood him, and, accordingly,\r\nin his plain way, said: 'China Aster, you tell me that an angel appeared\r\nto you in a dream. Now, what does that amount to but this, that you\r\ndreamed an angel appeared to you? Go right away, China Aster, and return\r\nthe check, as I advised you before. If friend Prudence were here, he\r\nwould say just the same thing.' With which words Old Plain Talk went off\r\nto find friend Prudence, but not succeeding, was returning to the\r\ncandlery himself, when, at distance mistaking him for a dun who had long\r\nannoyed him, China Aster in a panic barred all his doors, and ran to the\r\nback part of the candlery, where no knock could be heard.\r\n\r\n\"By this sad mistake, being left with no friend to argue the other side\r\nof the question, China Aster was so worked upon at last, by musing over\r\nhis dream, that nothing would do but he must get the check cashed, and\r\nlay out the money the very same day in buying a good lot of spermaceti\r\nto make into candles, by which operation he counted upon turning a\r\nbetter penny than he ever had before in his life; in fact, this he\r\nbelieved would prove the foundation of that famous fortune which the\r\nangel had promised him.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWB4PV4EMCJY73T33E","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMPYBJNCN30SX0KCH91","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMTJWJT06J0AHZED0Y7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.666Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.259Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}