{"id":"01KG8AMYHJVZEJNND8PN4BR9C8","cid":"bafkreidhekse2cx3pz3fz3f362gchwcugtsvbe42rg2n4jz7ft3zfgar6q","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12005,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.924Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":11946,"text":"II.\r\n\r\nOn the third night following the arrival of the party in the city,\r\nPierre sat at twilight by a lofty window in the rear building of the\r\nApostles'. The chamber was meager even to meanness. No carpet on the\r\nfloor, no picture on the wall; nothing but a low, long, and very\r\ncurious-looking single bedstead, that might possibly serve for an\r\nindigent bachelor's pallet, a large, blue, chintz-covered chest, a\r\nrickety, rheumatic, and most ancient mahogany chair, and a wide board of\r\nthe toughest live-oak, about six feet long, laid upon two upright empty\r\nflour-barrels, and loaded with a large bottle of ink, an unfastened\r\nbundle of quills, a pen-knife, a folder, and a still unbound ream of\r\nfoolscap paper, significantly stamped, \"Ruled; Blue.\"\r\n\r\nThere, on the third night, at twilight, sat Pierre by that lofty window\r\nof a beggarly room in the rear-building of the Apostles'. He was\r\nentirely idle, apparently; there was nothing in his hands; but there\r\nmight have been something on his heart. Now and then he fixedly gazes at\r\nthe curious-looking, rusty old bedstead. It seemed powerfully symbolical\r\nto him; and most symbolical it was. For it was the ancient dismemberable\r\nand portable camp-bedstead of his grandfather, the defiant defender of\r\nthe Fort, the valiant captain in many an unsuccumbing campaign. On that\r\nvery camp-bedstead, there, beneath his tent on the field, the glorious\r\nold mild-eyed and warrior-hearted general had slept, and but waked to\r\nbuckle his knight-making sword by his side; for it was noble knighthood\r\nto be slain by grand Pierre; in the other world his foes' ghosts bragged\r\nof the hand that had given them their passports.\r\n\r\nBut has that hard bed of War, descended for an inheritance to the soft\r\nbody of Peace? In the peaceful time of full barns, and when the noise of\r\nthe peaceful flail is abroad, and the hum of peaceful commerce resounds,\r\nis the grandson of two Generals a warrior too? Oh, not for naught, in\r\nthe time of this seeming peace, are warrior grandsires given to Pierre!\r\nFor Pierre is a warrior too; Life his campaign, and three fierce allies,\r\nWoe and Scorn and Want, his foes. The wide world is banded against him;\r\nfor lo you! he holds up the standard of Right, and swears by the Eternal\r\nand True! But ah, Pierre, Pierre, when thou goest to that bed, how\r\nhumbling the thought, that thy most extended length measures not the\r\nproud six feet four of thy grand John of Gaunt sire! The stature of the\r\nwarrior is cut down to the dwindled glory of the fight. For more\r\nglorious in real tented field to strike down your valiant foe, than in\r\nthe conflicts of a noble soul with a dastardly world to chase a vile\r\nenemy who ne'er will show front.\r\n\r\nThere, then, on the third night, at twilight, by the lofty window of\r\nthat beggarly room, sat Pierre in the rear building of the Apostles'. He\r\nis gazing out from the window now. But except the donjon form of the old\r\ngray tower, seemingly there is nothing to see but a wilderness of tiles,\r\nslate, shingles, and tin;--the desolate hanging wildernesses of tiles,\r\nslate, shingles and tin, wherewith we modern Babylonians replace the\r\nfair hanging-gardens of the fine old Asiatic times when the excellent\r\nNebuchadnezzar was king.\r\n\r\nThere he sits, a strange exotic, transplanted from the delectable\r\nalcoves of the old manorial mansion, to take root in this niggard soil.\r\nNo more do the sweet purple airs of the hills round about the green\r\nfields of Saddle Meadows come revivingly wafted to his cheek. Like a\r\nflower he feels the change; his bloom is gone from his cheek; his cheek\r\nis wilted and pale.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKVZ1YXS8G45287XW9T6E","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMYHQTJ88PCYQ4Q4KEPSY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.810Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.341Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}