{"id":"01KG8AKAMTG5KGKNDGAK483M52","cid":"bafkreidssurhsxqnh6335eucmf72fq2dxfisk64wjlvsjlctt5wpmsfige","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9371,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.726Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":9318,"text":"thoughts of rising above being a paid subordinate to men more able than\r\nhimself, for China Aster's career thus far plainly proved him the\r\nlegitimate son of Old Honesty, who, as every one knew, had never shown\r\nmuch business-talent, so little, in fact, that many said of him that he\r\nhad no business to be in business. And just this plain saying Plain Talk\r\nnow plainly applied to China Aster, and Old Prudence never disagreed\r\nwith him. But the angel in the dream did, and, maugre Plain Talk, put\r\nquite other notions into the candle-maker.\r\n\r\n\"He considered what he should do towards reëstablishing himself.\r\nDoubtless, had Orchis been in the country, he would have aided him in\r\nthis strait. As it was, he applied to others; and as in the world, much\r\nas some may hint to the contrary, an honest man in misfortune still can\r\nfind friends to stay by him and help him, even so it proved with China\r\nAster, who at last succeeded in borrowing from a rich old farmer the sum\r\nof six hundred dollars, at the usual interest of money-lenders, upon the\r\nsecurity of a secret bond signed by China Aster's wife and himself, to\r\nthe effect that all such right and title to any property that should be\r\nleft her by a well-to-do childless uncle, an invalid tanner, such\r\nproperty should, in the event of China Aster's failing to return the\r\nborrowed sum on the given day, be the lawful possession of the\r\nmoney-lender. True, it was just as much as China Aster could possibly do\r\nto induce his wife, a careful woman, to sign this bond; because she had\r\nalways regarded her promised share in her uncle's estate as an anchor\r\nwell to windward of the hard times in which China Aster had always been\r\nmore or less involved, and from which, in her bosom, she never had seen\r\nmuch chance of his freeing himself. Some notion may be had of China\r\nAster's standing in the heart and head of his wife, by a short sentence\r\ncommonly used in reply to such persons as happened to sound her on the\r\npoint. 'China Aster,' she would say, 'is a good husband, but a bad\r\nbusiness man!' Indeed, she was a connection on the maternal side of Old\r\nPlain Talk's. But had not China Aster taken good care not to let Old\r\nPlain Talk and Old Prudence hear of his dealings with the old farmer,\r\nten to one they would, in some way, have interfered with his success in\r\nthat quarter.\r\n\r\n\"It has been hinted that the honesty of China Aster was what mainly\r\ninduced the money-lender to befriend him in his misfortune, and this\r\nmust be apparent; for, had China Aster been a different man, the\r\nmoney-lender might have dreaded lest, in the event of his failing to\r\nmeet his note, he might some way prove slippery--more especially as, in\r\nthe hour of distress, worked upon by remorse for so jeopardizing his\r\nwife's money, his heart might prove a traitor to his bond, not to hint\r\nthat it was more than doubtful how such a secret security and claim, as\r\nin the last resort would be the old farmer's, would stand in a court of\r\nlaw. But though one inference from all this may be, that had China Aster\r\nbeen 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","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWB4PV4EMCJY73T33E","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMTJWJT06J0AHZED0Y7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMPHM3TWPBSVRA6WKHD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.666Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.477Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}