{"id":"01KG8AKKFVVRKEBRHK40228779","cid":"bafkreihnxzj6uo54wfk5qaecr2wegkbqhsfkaprfjktqzu7bgmishta55i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4759,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.591Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":4668,"text":"The Ranger now stood over the Solway Frith for the Scottish shore, and\r\nat noon on the same day, Paul, with twelve men, including two officers\r\nand Israel, landed on St. Mary’s Isle, one of the seats of the Earl of\r\nSelkirk.\r\n\r\nIn three consecutive days this elemental warrior either entered the\r\nharbors or landed on the shores of each of the Three Kingdoms.\r\n\r\nThe morning was fair and clear. St. Mary’s Isle lay shimmering in the\r\nsun. The light crust of snow had melted, revealing the tender grass and\r\nsweet buds of spring mantling the sides of the cliffs.\r\n\r\nAt once, upon advancing with his party towards the house, Paul augured\r\nill for his project from the loneliness of the spot. No being was seen.\r\nBut cocking his bonnet at a jaunty angle, he continued his way.\r\nStationing the men silently round about the house, fallowed by Israel,\r\nhe announced his presence at the porch.\r\n\r\nA gray-headed domestic at length responded.\r\n\r\n“Is the Earl within?”\r\n\r\n“He is in Edinburgh, sir.”\r\n\r\n“Ah—sure?—Is your lady within?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, sir—who shall I say it is?”\r\n\r\n“A gentleman who calls to pay his respects. Here, take my card.”\r\n\r\nAnd he handed the man his name, as a private gentleman, superbly\r\nengraved at Paris, on gilded paper.\r\n\r\nIsrael tarried in the hall while the old servant led Paul into a\r\nparlor.\r\n\r\nPresently the lady appeared.\r\n\r\n“Charming Madame, I wish you a very good morning.”\r\n\r\n“Who may it be, sir, that I have the happiness to see?” said the lady,\r\ncensoriously drawing herself up at the too frank gallantry of the\r\nstranger.\r\n\r\n“Madame, I sent you my card.”\r\n\r\n“Which leaves me equally ignorant, sir,” said the lady, coldly,\r\ntwirling the gilded pasteboard.\r\n\r\n“A courier dispatched to Whitehaven, charming Madame, might bring you\r\nmore particular tidings as to who has the honor of being your visitor.”\r\n\r\nNot comprehending what this meant, and deeply displeased, if not\r\nvaguely alarmed, at the characteristic manner of Paul, the lady, not\r\nentirely unembarrassed, replied, that if the gentleman came to view the\r\nisle, he was at liberty so to do. She would retire and send him a\r\nguide.\r\n\r\n“Countess of Selkirk,” said Paul, advancing a step, “I call to see the\r\nEarl. On business of urgent importance, I call.”\r\n\r\n“The Earl is in Edinburgh,” uneasily responded the lady, again about to\r\nretire.\r\n\r\n“Do you give me your honor as a lady that it is as you say?”\r\n\r\nThe lady looked at him in dubious resentment.\r\n\r\n“Pardon, Madame, I would not lightly impugn a lady’s lightest word, but\r\nI surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in\r\nwhich case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to\r\nseek to shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the\r\nisle.”\r\n\r\n“I do not dream what you mean by all this,” said the lady with a\r\ndecided alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her\r\ndignity, as she retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door.\r\n\r\n“Madame,” said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then\r\ntenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an\r\nexpression poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face;\r\n“it cannot be too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms,\r\nthe officer of fine feelings and genuine sensibility should be\r\nsometimes necessitated to public actions which his own private heart\r\ncannot approve. This hard case is mine. The Earl, Madame, you say is\r\nabsent. I believe those words. Far be it from my soul, enchantress, to\r\nascribe a fault to syllables which have proceeded from so faultless a\r\nsource.”\r\n\r\nThis probably he said in reference to the lady’s mouth, which was\r\nbeautiful in the extreme.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK6WDKEWC078M0E9WEZFS","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKFXH47ANKHD5Y88DH9X","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.723Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.378Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}