{"id":"01KG8AMZM7PGYPNYYQM6BM3ZT2","cid":"bafkreibqqfz3fmh2mlpjdr3anrht3q4gtghun65b57i75chht6436hxma4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2014,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":1964,"text":"been officially invited to preside, or be at all present at the\r\nsemi-monthly meetings; though he supposed, that far from having any\r\nscruples against so doing, she would be very glad to associate that way,\r\nwith the good people of the village.\r\n\r\n\"Now, brother Pierre\"--said Mrs. Glendinning, rising from Miss\r\nLlanyllyn's huge cushioned chair--\"throw my shawl around me; and\r\ngood-evening to Lucy's aunt.--There, we shall be late.\"\r\n\r\nAs they walked along, she added--\"Now, Pierre, I know you are apt to be\r\na little impatient sometimes, of these sewing scenes; but courage; I\r\nmerely want to peep in on them; so as to get some inkling of what they\r\nwould indeed be at; and then my promised benefactions can be better\r\nselected by me. Besides, Pierre, I could have had Dates escort me, but I\r\npreferred you; because I want you to know who they are you live among;\r\nhow many really pretty, and naturally-refined dames and girls you shall\r\none day be lord of the manor of. I anticipate a rare display of rural\r\nred and white.\"\r\n\r\nCheered by such pleasant promises, Pierre soon found himself leading his\r\nmother into a room full of faces. The instant they appeared, a\r\ngratuitous old body, seated with her knitting near the door, squeaked\r\nout shrilly--\"Ah! dames, dames,--Madam Glendinning!--Master Pierre\r\nGlendinning!\"\r\n\r\nAlmost immediately following this sound, there came a sudden,\r\nlong-drawn, unearthly, girlish shriek, from the further corner of the\r\nlong, double room. Never had human voice so affected Pierre before.\r\nThough he saw not the person from whom it came, and though the voice was\r\nwholly strange to him, yet the sudden shriek seemed to split its way\r\nclean through his heart, and leave a yawning gap there. For an instant,\r\nhe stood bewildered; but started at his mother's voice; her arm being\r\nstill in his. \"Why do you clutch my arm so, Pierre? You pain me. Pshaw!\r\nsome one has fainted,--nothing more.\"\r\n\r\nInstantly Pierre recovered himself, and affecting to mock at his own\r\ntrepidation, hurried across the room to offer his services, if such\r\nwere needed. But dames and maidens had been all beforehand with him; the\r\nlights were wildly flickering in the air-current made by the flinging\r\nopen of the casement, near to where the shriek had come. But the climax\r\nof the tumult was soon past; and presently, upon closing the casement,\r\nit subsided almost wholly. The elder of the spinster Pennies, advancing\r\nto Mrs. Glendinning, now gave her to understand, that one of the further\r\ncrowd of industrious girls present, had been attacked by a sudden, but\r\nfleeting fit, vaguely imputable to some constitutional disorder or\r\nother. She was now quite well again. And so the company, one and all,\r\nseemingly acting upon their natural good-breeding, which in any one at\r\nbottom, is but delicacy and charity, refrained from all further\r\ncuriosity; reminded not the girl of what had passed; noted her scarce at\r\nall; and all needles stitched away as before.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS09N3S99PVZD1T34NCQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMZM7G2RY4DNTDFADMVDR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMZM1WY2XGF7SQ9EJWGFH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:54.919Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:05.788Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}