{"id":"01KG8AN1JRJTD3HYG1JCS4KXRG","cid":"bafkreigfty42w7sv3t7pcp6b7tiivrj4rdwt6haszjplzuegdj72l4bhx4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2864,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 14","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":2806,"text":"time 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\nStill for the moment he held the letter averted. The messenger had so\r\nhurriedly accosted him, and delivered his duty, that Pierre had not yet\r\nso much as gained one glance at the superscription of the note. And now\r\nthe wild thought passed through his mind of what would be the result,\r\nshould he deliberately destroy the note, without so much as looking at\r\nthe hand that had addressed it. Hardly had this half-crazy conceit fully\r\nmade itself legible in his soul, when he was conscious of his two hands\r\nmeeting in the middle of the sundered note! He leapt from his chair--By\r\nheaven! he murmured, unspeakably shocked at the intensity of that mood\r\nwhich had caused him unwittingly as it were, to do for the first time in\r\nhis whole life, an act of which he was privately ashamed. Though the\r\nmood that was on him was none of his own willful seeking; yet now he\r\nswiftly felt conscious that he had perhaps a little encouraged it,\r\nthrough that certain strange infatuation of fondness, which the human\r\nmind, however vigorous, sometimes feels for any emotion at once novel\r\nand mystical. Not willingly, at such times--never mind how fearful we\r\nmay be--do we try to dissolve the spell which seems, for the time, to\r\nadmit us, all astonished, into the vague vestibule of the spiritual\r\nworlds.\r\n\r\nPierre now seemed distinctly to feel two antagonistic agencies within\r\nhim; one of which was just struggling into his consciousness, and each\r\nof which was striving for the mastery; and between whose respective\r\nfinal ascendencies, he thought he could perceive, though but shadowly,\r\nthat he himself was to be the only umpire. One bade him finish the\r\nselfish destruction of the note; for in some dark way the reading of it\r\nwould irretrievably entangle his fate. The other bade him dismiss all\r\nmisgivings; not because there was no possible ground for them, but\r\nbecause to dismiss them was the manlier part, never mind what might\r\nbetide. This good angel seemed mildly to say--Read, Pierre, though by\r\nreading thou may'st entangle thyself, yet may'st thou thereby\r\ndisentangle others. Read, and feel that best blessedness which, with the\r\nsense of all duties discharged, holds happiness indifferent. The bad\r\nangel insinuatingly breathed--Read it not, dearest Pierre; but destroy\r\nit, and be happy. Then, at the blast of his noble heart, the bad angel\r\nshrunk up into nothingness; and the good one defined itself clearer and\r\nmore clear, and came nigher and more nigh to him, smiling sadly but\r\nbenignantly; while forth from the infinite distances wonderful harmonies\r\nstole into his heart; so that every vein in him pulsed to some heavenly\r\nswell.\r\n\r\n\r\nV.\r\n\r\n\"The name at the end of this letter will be wholly strange to thee.\r\nHitherto my existence has been utterly unknown to thee. This letter will\r\ntouch thee and pain thee. Willingly would I spare thee, but I can not.\r\nMy heart bears me witness, that did I think that the suffering these\r\nlines would give thee, would, in the faintest degree, compare with what\r\nmine has been, I would forever withhold them.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 14"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS0JNVAGJYMWXV1594N5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN1JR6M10K9GX2CPXRWEZ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN1JRNSE02JZCCNCXTR6C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:56.920Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:09.292Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}