{"id":"01KG8AN2566YB2Y8ZCZVGBREXM","cid":"bafkreidft7ftd4buyivolorqfj437ug3zqdlug4l7euyrhwxtvia5wtxim","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3576,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":3509,"text":"\"'Have you been painting my portrait or not, cousin Ralph?' said your\r\nfather, very suddenly and pointedly.\r\n\r\n\"'I have painted nothing that looks as you there look,' said cousin\r\nRalph, evasively, observing in your father's face a fierce-like\r\nexpression, which he had never seen there before. And more than that,\r\nyour father could not get from him.\"\r\n\r\n\"And what then?\" said little Pierre.\r\n\r\n\"Why not much, my child; only your father never so much as caught one\r\nglimpse of that picture; indeed, never knew for certain, whether there\r\nwas such a painting in the world. Cousin Ralph secretly gave it to me,\r\nknowing how tenderly I loved your father; making me solemnly promise\r\nnever to expose it anywhere where your father could ever see it, or any\r\nway hear of it. This promise I faithfully kept; and it was only after\r\nyour dear father's death, that I hung it in my chamber. There, Pierre,\r\nyou now have the story of the chair-portrait.\"\r\n\r\n\"And a very strange one it is,\" said Pierre--\"and so interesting, I\r\nshall never forget it, aunt.\"\r\n\r\n\"I hope you never will, my child. Now ring the bell, and we will have a\r\nlittle fruit-cake, and I will take a glass of wine, Pierre;--do you\r\nhear, my child?--the bell--ring it. Why, what do you do standing there,\r\nPierre?\"\r\n\r\n\"_Why_ didn't papa want to have cousin Ralph paint his picture, aunt?\"\r\n\r\n\"How these children's minds do run!\" exclaimed old aunt Dorothea staring\r\nat little Pierre in amazement--\"That indeed is more than I can tell you,\r\nlittle Pierre. But cousin Ralph had a foolish fancy about it. He used to\r\ntell me, that being in your father's room some few days after the last\r\nscene I described, he noticed there a very wonderful work on\r\nPhysiognomy, as they call it, in which the strangest and shadowiest\r\nrules were laid down for detecting people's innermost secrets by\r\nstudying their faces. And so, foolish cousin Ralph always flattered\r\nhimself, that the reason your father did not want his portrait taken\r\nwas, because he was secretly in love with the French young lady, and did\r\nnot want his secret published in a portrait; since the wonderful work on\r\nPhysiognomy had, as it were, indirectly warned him against running that\r\nrisk. But cousin Ralph being such a retired and solitary sort of a\r\nyouth, he always had such curious whimsies about things. For my part, I\r\ndon't believe your father ever had any such ridiculous ideas on the\r\nsubject. To be sure, I myself can not tell you _why_ he did not want his\r\npicture taken; but when you get to be as old as I am, little Pierre, you\r\nwill find that every one, even the best of us, at times, is apt to act\r\nvery queerly and unaccountably; indeed some things we do, we can not\r\nentirely explain the reason of, even to ourselves, little Pierre. But\r\nyou will know all about these strange matters by and by.\"\r\n\r\n\"I hope I shall, aunt,\" said little Pierre--\"But, dear aunt, I thought\r\nMarten was to bring in some fruit-cake?\"\r\n\r\n\"Ring the bell for him, then, my child.\"\r\n\r\n\"Oh! I forgot,\" said little Pierre, doing her bidding.\r\n\r\nBy-and-by, while the aunt was sipping her wine; and the boy eating his\r\ncake, and both their eyes were fixed on the portrait in question; little\r\nPierre, pushing his stool nearer the picture exclaimed--\"Now, aunt, did\r\npapa really look exactly like that? Did you ever see him in that same\r\nbuff vest, and huge-figured neckcloth? I remember the seal and key,\r\npretty well; and it was only a week ago that I saw mamma take them out\r\nof a little locked drawer in her wardrobe--but I don't remember the\r\nqueer whiskers; nor the buff vest; nor the huge white-figured neckcloth;\r\ndid you ever see papa in that very neckcloth, aunt?\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKSAEZ2TYMG5E1MXWWGGY","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN24Z0NQN99QK1T4WJE2N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN24Z0R4B1N9Z9RKZNN4V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:57.510Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:11.939Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}