{"id":"01KG8AN1262EA1XAZH8PJ69P3D","cid":"bafkreiakrmhoubiyjs4zbhaett3d62gabsaa6urdtjvpbt3khv3mlhowgi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14587,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.924Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":14522,"text":"that she was defying the sacred counsels of her mother, she had nothing\r\nto answer but this: that her mother possessed all her daughterly\r\ndeference, but her unconditional obedience was elsewhere due. Let all\r\nhope of moving her be immediately, and once for all, abandoned. One only\r\nthing could move her; and that would only move her, to make her forever\r\nimmovable;--that thing was death.\r\n\r\nSuch wonderful strength in such wonderful sweetness; such inflexibility\r\nin one so fragile, would have been matter for marvel to any observer.\r\nBut to her mother it was very much more; for, like many other\r\nsuperficial observers, forming her previous opinion of Lucy upon the\r\nslightness of her person, and the dulcetness of her temper, Mrs. Tartan\r\nhad always imagined that her daughter was quite incapable of any such\r\ndaring act. As if sterling heavenliness were incompatible with\r\nheroicness. These two are never found apart. Nor, though Pierre knew\r\nmore of Lucy than any one else, did this most singular behavior in her\r\nfail to amaze him. Seldom even had the mystery of Isabel fascinated him\r\nmore, with a fascination partaking of the terrible. The mere bodily\r\naspect of Lucy, as changed by her more recent life, filled him with the\r\nmost powerful and novel emotions. That unsullied complexion of bloom was\r\nnow entirely gone, without being any way replaced by sallowness, as is\r\nusual in similar instances. And as if her body indeed were the temple\r\nof God, and marble indeed were the only fit material for so holy a\r\nshrine, a brilliant, supernatural whiteness now gleamed in her cheek.\r\nHer head sat on her shoulders as a chiseled statue's head; and the soft,\r\nfirm light in her eye seemed as much a prodigy, as though a chiseled\r\nstatue should give token of vision and intelligence.\r\n\r\nIsabel also was most strangely moved by this sweet unearthliness in the\r\naspect of Lucy. But it did not so much persuade her by any common\r\nappeals to her heart, as irrespectively commend her by the very signet\r\nof heaven. In the deference with which she ministered to Lucy's little\r\noccasional wants, there was more of blank spontaneousness than\r\ncompassionate voluntariness. And when it so chanced, that--owing perhaps\r\nto some momentary jarring of the distant and lonely guitar--as Lucy was\r\nso mildly speaking in the presence of her mother, a sudden, just\r\naudible, submissively answering musical, stringed tone, came through the\r\nopen door from the adjoining chamber; then Isabel, as if seized by some\r\nspiritual awe, fell on her knees before Lucy, and made a rapid gesture\r\nof homage; yet still, somehow, as it were, without evidence of voluntary\r\nwill.\r\n\r\nFinding all her most ardent efforts ineffectual, Mrs. Tartan now\r\ndistressedly motioned to Pierre and Isabel to quit the chamber, that she\r\nmight urge her entreaties and menaces in private. But Lucy gently waved\r\nthem to stay; and then turned to her mother. Henceforth she had no\r\nsecrets but those which would also be secrets in heaven. Whatever was\r\npublicly known in heaven, should be publicly known on earth. There was\r\nno slightest secret between her and her mother.\r\n\r\nWholly confounded by this inscrutableness of her so alienated and\r\ninfatuated daughter, Mrs. Tartan turned inflamedly upon Pierre, and bade\r\nhim follow her forth. But again Lucy said nay, there were no secrets\r\nbetween her mother and Pierre. She would anticipate every thing there.\r\nCalling for pen and paper, and a book to hold on her knee and write,\r\nshe traced the following lines, and reached them to her mother:\r\n\r\n\"I am Lucy Tartan. I have come to dwell during their pleasure with Mr.\r\nand Mrs. Pierre Glendinning, of my own unsolicited free-will. If they\r\ndesire it, I shall go; but no other power shall remove me, except by\r\nviolence; and against any violence I have the ordinary appeal to the\r\nlaw.\"\r\n\r\n\"Read this, madam,\" said Mrs. Tartan, tremblingly handing it to Isabel,\r\nand eying her with a passionate and disdainful significance.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKWW7C56YA31RGTMFGT68","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN126ZFWHKFBVYV07YJW5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN1239CBRGWVMJY0WAR11","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.390Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:33.140Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}