{"id":"01KG8AN0BKPG5G83W7V2Y9TDNK","cid":"bafkreiazxfnrwzvr5zc7fsylnnvqysuw3kkaszz5a3ov7oecytlawo33sy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2470,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":2398,"text":"that night; nor for a long time freed her pillow completely from wild,\r\nBeethoven sounds of distant, waltzing melodies, as of ambiguous fairies\r\ndancing on the heath.\r\n\r\n\r\nIII.\r\n\r\nThis history goes forward and goes backward, as occasion calls. Nimble\r\ncenter, circumference elastic you must have. Now we return to Pierre,\r\nwending homeward from his reveries beneath the pine-tree.\r\n\r\nHis burst of impatience against the sublime Italian, Dante, arising from\r\nthat poet being the one who, in a former time, had first opened to his\r\nshuddering eyes the infinite cliffs and gulfs of human mystery and\r\nmisery;--though still more in the way of experimental vision, than of\r\nsensational presentiment or experience (for as yet he had not seen so\r\nfar and deep as Dante, and therefore was entirely incompetent to meet\r\nthe grim bard fairly on his peculiar ground), this ignorant burst of\r\nhis young impatience,--also arising from that half contemptuous dislike,\r\nand sometimes selfish loathing, with which, either naturally feeble or\r\nundeveloped minds, regard those dark ravings of the loftier poets, which\r\nare in eternal opposition to their own fine-spun, shallow dreams of\r\nrapturous or prudential Youth;--this rash, untutored burst of Pierre's\r\nyoung impatience, seemed to have carried off with it, all the other\r\nforms of his melancholy--if melancholy it had been--and left him now\r\nserene again, and ready for any tranquil pleasantness the gods might\r\nhave in store. For his, indeed, was true Youth's temperament,--summary\r\nwith sadness, swift to joyfulness, and long protracting, and detaining\r\nwith that joyfulness, when once it came fully nigh to him.\r\n\r\nAs he entered the dining-hall, he saw Dates retiring from another door\r\nwith his tray. Alone and meditative, by the bared half of the polished\r\ntable, sat his mother at her dessert; fruit-baskets, and a decanter were\r\nbefore her. On the other leaf of the same table, still lay the cloth,\r\nfolded back upon itself, and set out with one plate and its usual\r\naccompaniments.\r\n\r\n\"Sit down, Pierre; when I came home, I was surprised to hear that the\r\nphaeton had returned so early, and here I waited dinner for you, until I\r\ncould wait no more. But go to the green pantry now, and get what Dates\r\nhas but just put away for you there. Heigh-ho! too plainly I foresee\r\nit--no more regular dinner-hours, or tea-hours, or supper-hours, in\r\nSaddle Meadows, till its young lord is wedded. And that puts me in mind\r\nof something, Pierre; but I'll defer it till you have eaten a little. Do\r\nyou know, Pierre, that if you continue these irregular meals of yours,\r\nand deprive me so entirely almost of your company, that I shall run\r\nfearful risk of getting to be a terrible wine-bibber;--yes, could you\r\nunalarmed see me sitting all alone here with this decanter, like any old\r\nnurse, Pierre; some solitary, forlorn old nurse, Pierre, deserted by her\r\nlast friend, and therefore forced to embrace her flask?\"\r\n\r\n\"No, I did not feel any great alarm, sister,\" said Pierre, smiling,\r\n\"since I could not but perceive that the decanter was still full to the\r\nstopple.\"\r\n\r\n\"Possibly it may be only a fresh decanter, Pierre;\" then changing her\r\nvoice suddenly--\"but mark me, Mr. Pierre Glendinning!\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, Mrs. Mary Glendinning!\"\r\n\r\n\"Do you know, sir, that you are very shortly to be married,--that indeed\r\nthe day is all but fixed?\"\r\n\r\n\"How-!\" cried Pierre, in real joyful astonishment, both at the nature of\r\nthe tidings, and the earnest tones in which they were conveyed--\"dear,\r\ndear mother, you have strangely changed your mind then, my dear mother.\"\r\n\r\n\"It is even so, dear brother;--before this day month I hope to have a\r\nlittle sister Tartan.\"\r\n\r\n\"You talk very strangely, mother,\" rejoined Pierre, quickly. \"I suppose,\r\nthen, I have next to nothing to say in the matter!\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS0JNVAGJYMWXV1594N5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN0BKV6MR9M7Z13QWMT0V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN0BKXNQ9RJYYHSYMPXR1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:55.667Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:05.898Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}