{"id":"01KG8AMYEJ2NQ23DYZ1X14HEGE","cid":"bafkreihpc2jegmoo5kkx5eae6q5wod75kbmzzl5kmonxw7axpy22j2oemi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6513,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.921Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":6456,"text":"II.\r\n\r\n\"My brother, thou wilt remember that certain part of my story which in\r\nreference to my more childish years spent remote from here, introduced\r\nthe gentleman--my--yes, _our_ father, Pierre. I can not describe to\r\nthee, for indeed, I do not myself comprehend how it was, that though at\r\nthe time I sometimes called him my father, and the people of the house\r\nalso called him so, sometimes when speaking of him to me; yet--partly, I\r\nsuppose, because of the extraordinary secludedness of my previous\r\nlife--I did not then join in my mind with the word father, all those\r\npeculiar associations which the term ordinarily inspires in children.\r\nThe word father only seemed a word of general love and endearment to\r\nme--little or nothing more; it did not seem to involve any claims of any\r\nsort, one way or the other. I did not ask the name of my father; for I\r\ncould have had no motive to hear him named, except to individualize the\r\nperson who was so peculiarly kind to me; and individualized in that way\r\nhe already was, since he was generally called by us _the gentleman_, and\r\nsometimes _my father_. As I have no reason to suppose that had I then or\r\nafterward, questioned the people of the house as to what more particular\r\nname my father went by in the world, they would have at all disclosed it\r\nto me; and, indeed, since, for certain singular reasons, I now feel\r\nconvinced that on that point they were pledged to secrecy; I do not\r\nknow that I ever would have come to learn my father's name,--and by\r\nconsequence, ever have learned the least shade or shadow of knowledge as\r\nto you, Pierre, or any of your kin--had it not been for the merest\r\nlittle accident, which early revealed it to me, though at the moment I\r\ndid not know the value of that knowledge. The last time my father\r\nvisited the house, he chanced to leave his handkerchief behind him. It\r\nwas the farmer's wife who first discovered it. She picked it up, and\r\nfumbling at it a moment, as if rapidly examining the corners, tossed it\r\nto me, saying, 'Here, Isabel, here is the good gentleman's handkerchief;\r\nkeep it for him now, till he comes to see little Bell again.' Gladly I\r\ncaught the handkerchief, and put it into my bosom. It was a white one;\r\nand upon closely scanning it, I found a small line of fine faded\r\nyellowish writing in the middle of it. At that time I could not read\r\neither print or writing, so I was none the wiser then; but still, some\r\nsecret instinct told me, that the woman would not so freely have given\r\nme the handkerchief, had she known there was any writing on it. I\r\nforbore questioning her on the subject; I waited till my father should\r\nreturn, to secretly question him. The handkerchief had become dusty by\r\nlying on the uncarpeted floor. I took it to the brook and washed it, and\r\nlaid it out on the grass where none would chance to pass; and I ironed\r\nit under my little apron, so that none would be attracted to it, to look\r\nat it again. But my father never returned; so, in my grief, the\r\nhandkerchief became the more and the more endeared to me; it absorbed\r\nmany of the secret tears I wept in memory of my dear departed friend,\r\nwhom, in my child-like ignorance, I then equally called _my father_ and\r\n_the gentleman_. But when the impression of his death became a fixed\r\nthing to me, then again I washed and dried and ironed the precious\r\nmemorial of him, and put it away where none should find it but myself,\r\nand resolved never more to soil it with my tears; and I folded it in\r\nsuch a manner, that the name was invisibly buried in the heart of it,\r\nand it was like opening a book and turning over many blank leaves before\r\nI came to the mysterious writing, which I knew should be one day read by\r\nme, without direct help from any one. Now I resolved to learn my\r\nletters, and learn to read, in order that of myself I might learn the\r\nmeaning of those faded characters. No other purpose but that only one,\r\ndid I have in learning then to read. I easily induced the woman to give\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKJAEQ00QR124VM7H290W","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMYEJ98K45TCGV42X12VD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.714Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:19.129Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}