{"id":"01KG8AKX4SMGAN0RTB5G8A3FBQ","cid":"bafkreigbujnahg7d3j67u7a73oarewd2tjvciq4imeqihydidihjmfu3ai","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9080,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":9009,"text":"about the waiters; and with a silent salute, received the silver of the\r\nguests.\r\n\r\nOur entrance excited little or no notice; for every body present seemed\r\nexceedingly animated about concerns of their own; and a large group was\r\ngathered around one tall, military looking gentleman, who was reading\r\nsome India war-news from the Times, and commenting on it, in a very\r\nloud voice, condemning, in toto, the entire campaign.\r\n\r\nWe seated ourselves apart from this group, and Harry, rapping on the\r\ntable, called for wine; mentioning some curious foreign name.\r\n\r\nThe decanter, filled with a pale yellow wine, being placed before us,\r\nand my comrade having drunk a few glasses; he whispered me to remain\r\nwhere I was, while he withdrew for a moment.\r\n\r\nI saw him advance to the turret-like place, and exchange a confidential\r\nword with the almond tree there, who immediately looked very much\r\nsurprised,—I thought, a little disconcerted,—and then disappeared with\r\nhim.\r\n\r\nWhile my friend was gone, I occupied myself with looking around me, and\r\nstriving to appear as indifferent as possible, and as much used to all\r\nthis splendor as if I had been born in it. But, to tell the truth, my\r\nhead was almost dizzy with the strangeness of the sight, and the\r\nthought that I was really in London. What would my brother have said?\r\nWhat would Tom Legare, the treasurer of the Juvenile Temperance\r\nSociety, have thought?\r\n\r\nBut I almost began to fancy I had no friends and relatives living in a\r\nlittle village three thousand five hundred miles off, in America; for\r\nit was hard to unite such a humble reminiscence with the splendid\r\nanimation of the London-like scene around me.\r\n\r\nAnd in the delirium of the moment, I began to indulge in foolish golden\r\nvisions of the counts and countesses to whom Harry might introduce me;\r\nand every instant I expected to hear the waiters addressing some\r\ngentleman as _“My Lord,”_ or _“four Grace.”_ But if there were really\r\nany lords present, the waiters omitted their titles, at least in my\r\nhearing.\r\n\r\nMixed with these thoughts were confused visions of St. Paul’s and the\r\nStrand, which I determined to visit the very next morning, before\r\nbreakfast, or perish in the attempt. And I even longed for Harry’s\r\nreturn, that we might immediately sally out into the street, and see\r\nsome of the sights, before the shops were all closed for the night.\r\n\r\nWhile I thus sat alone, I observed one of the waiters eying me a little\r\nimpertinently, as I thought, and as if he saw something queer about me.\r\nSo I tried to assume a careless and lordly air, and by way of helping\r\nthe thing, threw one leg over the other, like a young Prince Esterhazy;\r\nbut all the time I felt my face burning with embarrassment, and for the\r\ntime, I must have looked very guilty of something. But spite of this, I\r\nkept looking boldly out of my eyes, and straight through my blushes,\r\nand observed that every now and then little parties were made up among\r\nthe gentlemen, and they retired into the rear of the house, as if going\r\nto a private apartment. And I overheard one of them drop the word\r\n_Rouge;_ but he could not have used rouge, for his face was exceedingly\r\npale. Another said something about _Loo._\r\n\r\nAt last Harry came back, his face rather flushed.\r\n\r\n“Come along, Redburn,” said he.\r\n\r\nSo making no doubt we were off for a ramble, perhaps to Apsley House,\r\nin the Park, to get a sly peep at the old Duke before he retired for\r\nthe night, for Harry had told me the Duke always went to bed early, I\r\nsprang up to follow him; but what was my disappointment and surprise,\r\nwhen he only led me into the passage, toward a staircase lighted by\r\nthree marble Graces, unitedly holding a broad candelabra, like an elk’s\r\nantlers, over the landing.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJSA71QVQSMQ91CQK3MDT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWG62559V7W5Q3EJXQMT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKX4S8ED9WVB9HBB9TT43","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.609Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.771Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}