{"id":"01KG8AMFC6TGKCYAPRQ0GJP6PN","cid":"bafkreidvvlfm7dnqy7hgixfrmhr64rtnkv6n57cuj5nae5ofp2xn33uh54","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2444,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":2382,"text":"“Gentlemen of the mess, for heaven’s sake! permit me one word. I have\r\ndone my duty by that duff—I have——”\r\n\r\nBut they beat down my excuses with a storm of criminations. One present\r\nproposed that the fatal pudding should be tied round my neck, like a\r\nmill-stone, and myself pushed overboard. No use, no use; I had failed;\r\never after, that duff lay heavy at my stomach and my heart.\r\n\r\nAfter this, I grew desperate; despised popularity; returned scorn for\r\nscorn; till at length my week expired, and in the duff-bag I\r\ntransferred the keys of office to the next man on the roll.\r\n\r\nSomehow, there had never been a very cordial feeling between this mess\r\nand me; all along they had nourished a prejudice against my white\r\njacket. They must have harbored the silly fancy that in it I gave\r\nmyself airs, and wore it in order to look consequential; perhaps, as a\r\ncloak to cover pilferings of tit-bits from the mess. But to out with\r\nthe plain truth, they themselves were not a very irreproachable set.\r\nConsidering the sequel I am coming to, this avowal may be deemed sheer\r\nmalice; but for all that, I cannot avoid speaking my mind.\r\n\r\nAfter my week of office, the mess gradually changed their behaviour to\r\nme; they cut me to the heart; they became cold and reserved; seldom or\r\nnever addressed me at meal-times without invidious allusions to my\r\n_duff_, and also to my jacket, and its dripping in wet weather upon the\r\nmess-cloth. However, I had no idea that anything serious, on their\r\npart, was brewing; but alas! so it turned out.\r\n\r\nWe were assembled at supper one evening when I noticed certain winks\r\nand silent hints tipped to the cook, who presided. He was a little,\r\noily fellow, who had once kept an oyster-cellar ashore; he bore me a\r\ngrudge. Looking down on the mess-cloth, he observed that some fellows\r\nnever knew when their room was better than their company. This being a\r\nmaxim of indiscriminate application, of course I silently assented to\r\nit, as any other reasonable man would have done. But this remark was\r\nfollowed up by another, to the effect that, not only did some fellows\r\nnever know when their room was better than their company, but they\r\npersisted in staying when their company wasn’t wanted; and by so doing\r\ndisturbed the serenity of society at large. But this, also, was a\r\ngeneral observation that could not be gainsaid. A long and ominous\r\npause ensued; during which I perceived every eye upon me, and my white\r\njacket; while the cook went on to enlarge upon the disagreeableness of\r\na perpetually damp garment in the mess, especially when that garment\r\nwas white. This was coming nearer home.\r\n\r\nYes, they were going to black-ball me; but I resolved to sit it out a\r\nlittle longer; never dreaming that my moralist would proceed to\r\nextremities, while all hands were present. But bethinking him that by\r\ngoing this roundabout way he would never get at his object, he went off\r\non another tack; apprising me, in substance, that he was instructed by\r\nthe whole mess, then and there assembled, to give me warning to seek\r\nout another club, as they did not longer fancy the society either of\r\nmyself or my jacket.\r\n\r\nI was shocked. Such a want of tact and delicacy! Common propriety\r\nsuggested that a point-blank intimation of that nature should be\r\nconveyed in a private interview; or, still better, by note. I\r\nimmediately rose, tucked my jacket about me, bowed, and departed.\r\n\r\nAnd now, to do myself justice, I must add that, the next day, I was\r\nreceived with open arms by a glorious set of fellows—Mess No.\r\n1!—numbering, among the rest, my noble Captain Jack Chase.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ3JZG0J0ZTJQ5TQ2KVE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMESSEY2DB37KH998520J","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFC6GKJJY5ZCNGM9XQJX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.278Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:44.270Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}