{"id":"01KG8AKT5797MX4V9N0BP1QBPG","cid":"bafkreidpgbjmd3vmnpcbnmxi4j64vllsoz7gfzwg3qlyl5ixmz6pklv6za","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1600,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.023Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","start_line":1525,"text":"considerations. Decently as I could, I told Bartleby that in six days\r\ntime he must unconditionally leave the office. I warned him to take\r\nmeasures, in the interval, for procuring some other abode. I offered to\r\nassist him in this endeavor, if he himself would but take the first\r\nstep towards a removal. “And when you finally quit me, Bartleby,” added\r\nI, “I shall see that you go not away entirely unprovided. Six days from\r\nthis hour, remember.”\r\n\r\nAt the expiration of that period, I peeped behind the screen, and lo!\r\nBartleby was there.\r\n\r\nI buttoned up my coat, balanced myself; advanced slowly towards him,\r\ntouched his shoulder, and said, “The time has come; you must quit this\r\nplace; I am sorry for you; here is money; but you must go.”\r\n\r\n“I would prefer not,” he replied, with his back still towards me.\r\n\r\n“You _must_.”\r\n\r\nHe remained silent.\r\n\r\nNow I had an unbounded confidence in this man’s common honesty. He had\r\nfrequently restored to me sixpences and shillings carelessly dropped\r\nupon the floor, for I am apt to be very reckless in such shirt-button\r\naffairs. The proceeding, then, which followed will not be deemed\r\nextraordinary.\r\n\r\n“Bartleby,” said I, “I owe you twelve dollars on account; here are\r\nthirty-two; the odd twenty are yours—Will you take it?” and I handed\r\nthe bills towards him.\r\n\r\nBut he made no motion.\r\n\r\n“I will leave them here, then,” putting them under a weight on the\r\ntable. Then taking my hat and cane and going to the door, I tranquilly\r\nturned and added—“After you have removed your things from these\r\noffices, Bartleby, you will of course lock the door—since every one is\r\nnow gone for the day but you—and if you please, slip your key\r\nunderneath the mat, so that I may have it in the morning. I shall not\r\nsee you again; so good-by to you. If, hereafter, in your new place of\r\nabode, I can be of any service to you, do not fail to advise me by\r\nletter. Good-by, Bartleby, and fare you well.”\r\n\r\nBut he answered not a word; like the last column of some ruined temple,\r\nhe remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise\r\ndeserted room.\r\n\r\nAs I walked home in a pensive mood, my vanity got the better of my\r\npity. I could not but highly plume myself on my masterly management in\r\ngetting rid of Bartleby. Masterly I call it, and such it must appear to\r\nany dispassionate thinker. The beauty of my procedure seemed to consist\r\nin its perfect quietness. There was no vulgar bullying, no bravado of\r\nany sort, no choleric hectoring, and striding to and fro across the\r\napartment, jerking out vehement commands for Bartleby to bundle himself\r\noff with his beggarly traps. Nothing of the kind. Without loudly\r\nbidding Bartleby depart—as an inferior genius might have done—I\r\n_assumed_ the ground that depart he must; and upon that assumption\r\nbuilt all I had to say. The more I thought over my procedure, the more\r\nI was charmed with it. Nevertheless, next morning, upon awakening, I\r\nhad my doubts—I had somehow slept off the fumes of vanity. One of the\r\ncoolest and wisest hours a man has, is just after he awakes in the\r\nmorning. My procedure seemed as sagacious as ever—but only in theory.\r\nHow it would prove in practice—there was the rub. It was truly a\r\nbeautiful thought to have assumed Bartleby’s departure; but, after all,\r\nthat assumption was simply my own, and none of Bartleby’s. The great\r\npoint was, not whether I had assumed that he would quit me, but whether\r\nhe would prefer so to do. He was more a man of preferences than\r\nassumptions.\r\n\r\nAfter breakfast, I walked down town, arguing the probabilities _pro_\r\nand _con_. One moment I thought it would prove a miserable failure, and\r\nBartleby would be found all alive at my office as usual; the next\r\nmoment it seemed certain that I should find his chair empty. And so I\r\nkept veering about. At the corner of Broadway and Canal street, I saw\r\nquite an excited group of people standing in earnest conversation.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK419VG3PDA1PZZFDBDN6","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT57JG0XYFVQFX39BGFR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.551Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:23.631Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}