{"id":"01KG8AN2N6W56RG5SSPSZ13D24","cid":"bafkreiameowvzcrg5gsw45fxxnbtwnfexewek4m4fvdkwu6nqwu47o7sou","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3789,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":3745,"text":"_are_, Pierre, but in age we _seem_. Look again. I am thy real father,\r\nso much the more truly, as thou thinkest thou recognizest me not,\r\nPierre. To their young children, fathers are not wont to unfold\r\nthemselves entirely, Pierre. There are a thousand and one odd little\r\nyouthful peccadilloes, that we think we may as well not divulge to them,\r\nPierre. Consider this strange, ambiguous smile, Pierre; more narrowly\r\nregard this mouth. Behold, what is this too ardent and, as it were,\r\nunchastened light in these eyes, Pierre? I am thy father, boy. There was\r\nonce a certain, oh, but too lovely young Frenchwoman, Pierre. Youth is\r\nhot, and temptation strong, Pierre; and in the minutest moment momentous\r\nthings are irrevocably done, Pierre; and Time sweeps on, and the thing\r\nis not always carried down by its stream, but may be left stranded on\r\nits bank; away beyond, in the young, green countries, Pierre. Look\r\nagain. Doth thy mother dislike me for naught? Consider. Do not all her\r\nspontaneous, loving impressions, ever strive to magnify, and\r\nspiritualize, and deify, her husband's memory, Pierre? Then why doth she\r\ncast despite upon me; and never speak to thee of me; and why dost thou\r\nthyself keep silence before her, Pierre? Consider. Is there no little\r\nmystery here? Probe a little, Pierre. Never fear, never fear. No matter\r\nfor thy father now. Look, do I not smile?--yes, and with an unchangeable\r\nsmile; and thus have I unchangeably smiled for many long years gone by,\r\nPierre. Oh, it is a permanent smile! Thus I smiled to cousin Ralph; and\r\nthus in thy dear old Aunt Dorothea's parlor, Pierre; and just so, I\r\nsmile here to thee, and even thus in thy father's later life, when his\r\nbody may have been in grief, still--hidden away in Aunt Dorothea's\r\nsecretary--I thus smiled as before; and just so I'd smile were I now\r\nhung up in the deepest dungeon of the Spanish Inquisition, Pierre;\r\nthough suspended in outer darkness, still would I smile with this smile,\r\nthough then not a soul should be near. Consider; for a smile is the\r\nchosen vehicle for all ambiguities, Pierre. When we would deceive, we\r\nsmile; when we are hatching any nice little artifice, Pierre; only just\r\na little gratifying our own sweet little appetites, Pierre; then watch\r\nus, and out comes the odd little smile. Once upon a time, there was a\r\nlovely young Frenchwoman, Pierre. Have you carefully, and analytically,\r\nand psychologically, and metaphysically, considered her belongings and\r\nsurroundings, and all her incidentals, Pierre? Oh, a strange sort of\r\nstory, that, thy dear old Aunt Dorothea once told thee, Pierre. I once\r\nknew a credulous old soul, Pierre. Probe, probe a little--see--there\r\nseems one little crack there, Pierre--a wedge, a wedge. Something ever\r\ncomes of all persistent inquiry; we are not so continually curious for\r\nnothing, Pierre; not for nothing, do we so intrigue and become wily\r\ndiplomatists, and glozers with our own minds, Pierre; and afraid of\r\nfollowing the Indian trail from the open plain into the dark thickets,\r\nPierre; but enough; a word to the wise.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKSACDTV381FFR3QKK30W","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN2N62YYHZAXNXXSZYARW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN2NDJA711T438NHPES58","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:58.022Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:12.272Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}