{"id":"01KG8AN1JR6M10K9GX2CPXRWEZ","cid":"bafkreigbvmhd26347ipvneptpxekswva3ngrvjgexew5vprplgz2xnyjnu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2813,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 13","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":2761,"text":"aspect, seemed to have been quickly scrutinized by the other.\r\n\r\n\"I have a letter for Pierre Glendinning,\" said the stranger, \"and I\r\nbelieve this is he.\" At the same moment, a letter was drawn forth, and\r\nsought his hand.\r\n\r\n\"For me!\" exclaimed Pierre, faintly, starting at the strangeness of the\r\nencounter;--\"methinks this is an odd time and place to deliver your\r\nmail;--who are you?--Stay!\"\r\n\r\nBut without waiting an answer, the messenger had already turned about,\r\nand was re-crossing the road. In the first impulse of the moment, Pierre\r\nstept forward, and would have pursued him; but smiling at his own\r\ncauseless curiosity and trepidation, paused again; and softly turned\r\nover the letter in his hand. What mysterious correspondent is this,\r\nthought he, circularly moving his thumb upon the seal; no one writes me\r\nbut from abroad; and their letters come through the office; and as for\r\nLucy--pooh!--when she herself is within, she would hardly have her notes\r\ndelivered at her own gate. Strange! but I'll in, and read it;--no, not\r\nthat;--I come to read again in her own sweet heart--that dear missive to\r\nme from heaven,--and this impertinent letter would pre-occupy me. I'll\r\nwait till I go home.\r\n\r\nHe entered the gate, and laid his hand upon the cottage knocker. Its\r\nsudden coolness caused a slight, and, at any other time, an\r\nunaccountable sympathetic sensation in his hand. To his unwonted mood,\r\nthe knocker seemed to say--\"Enter not!--Begone, and first read thy\r\nnote.\"\r\n\r\nYielding now, half alarmed, and half bantering with himself, to these\r\nshadowy interior monitions, he half-unconsciously quitted the door;\r\nrepassed the gate; and soon found himself retracing his homeward path.\r\n\r\nHe equivocated with himself no more; the gloom of the air had now burst\r\ninto his heart, and extinguished its light; then, first in all his life,\r\nPierre felt the irresistible admonitions and intuitions of Fate.\r\n\r\nHe entered the hall unnoticed, passed up to his chamber, and hurriedly\r\nlocking the door in the dark, lit his lamp. As the summoned flame\r\nilluminated the room, Pierre, standing before the round center-table,\r\nwhere the lamp was placed, with his hand yet on the brass circle which\r\nregulated the wick, started at a figure in the opposite mirror. It bore\r\nthe outline of Pierre, but now strangely filled with features\r\ntransformed, and unfamiliar to him; feverish eagerness, fear, and\r\nnameless forebodings of ill! He threw himself into a chair, and for a\r\ntime vainly struggled with the incomprehensible power that possessed\r\nhim. Then, as he avertedly drew the letter from his bosom, he whispered\r\nto himself--Out on thee, Pierre! how sheepish now will ye feel when this\r\ntremendous note will turn out to be an invitation to a supper to-morrow\r\nnight; quick, fool, and write the stereotyped reply: Mr. Pierre\r\nGlendinning will be very happy to accept Miss so and so's polite\r\ninvitation.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 13"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS0JNVAGJYMWXV1594N5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN0CCMY2F7XYKKC0QS4GP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN1JRJTD3HYG1JCS4KXRG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.920Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:09.738Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}