{"id":"01KG8AN2NDY3ZF1BF4SZQ34JSE","cid":"bafkreibjk6mdgqbs6mcpb6ynacbmxgaompplgawcamowc4z4r43ii3ww5m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4188,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":4125,"text":"III.\r\n\r\nMost melancholy of all the hours of earth, is that one long, gray hour,\r\nwhich to the watcher by the lamp intervenes between the night and day;\r\nwhen both lamp and watcher, over-tasked, grow sickly in the pallid\r\nlight; and the watcher, seeking for no gladness in the dawn, sees naught\r\nbut garish vapors there; and almost invokes a curse upon the public\r\nday, that shall invade his lonely night of sufferance.\r\n\r\nThe one small window of his closet looked forth upon the meadow, and\r\nacross the river, and far away to the distant heights, storied with the\r\ngreat deeds of the Glendinnings. Many a time had Pierre sought this\r\nwindow before sunrise, to behold the blood-red, out-flinging dawn, that\r\nwould wrap those purple hills as with a banner. But now the morning\r\ndawned in mist and rain, and came drizzlingly upon his heart. Yet as the\r\nday advanced, and once more showed to him the accustomed features of his\r\nroom by that natural light, which, till this very moment, had never\r\nlighted him but to his joy; now that the day, and not the night, was\r\nwitness to his woe; now first the dread reality came appallingly upon\r\nhim. A sense of horrible forlornness, feebleness, impotence, and\r\ninfinite, eternal desolation possessed him. It was not merely mental,\r\nbut corporeal also. He could not stand; and when he tried to sit, his\r\narms fell floorwards as tied to leaden weights. Dragging his ball and\r\nchain, he fell upon his bed; for when the mind is cast down, only in\r\nsympathetic proneness can the body rest; whence the bed is often Grief's\r\nfirst refuge. Half stupefied, as with opium, he fell into the\r\nprofoundest sleep.\r\n\r\nIn an hour he awoke, instantly recalling all the previous night; and now\r\nfinding himself a little strengthened, and lying so quietly and silently\r\nthere, almost without bodily consciousness, but his soul unobtrusively\r\nalert; careful not to break the spell by the least movement of a limb,\r\nor the least turning of his head. Pierre steadfastly faced his grief,\r\nand looked deep down into its eyes; and thoroughly, and calmly, and\r\nsummarily comprehended it now--so at least he thought--and what it\r\ndemanded from him; and what he must quickly do in its more immediate\r\nsequences; and what that course of conduct was, which he must pursue in\r\nthe coming unevadable breakfast interview with his mother; and what, for\r\nthe present must be his plan with Lucy. His time of thought was brief.\r\nRising from his bed, he steadied himself upright a moment; and then\r\ngoing to his writing-desk, in a few at first faltering, but at length\r\nunlagging lines, traced the following note:\r\n\r\n     \"I must ask pardon of you, Lucy, for so strangely absenting myself\r\n     last night. But you know me well enough to be very sure that I\r\n     would not have done so without important cause. I was in the street\r\n     approaching your cottage, when a message reached me, imperatively\r\n     calling me away. It is a matter which will take up all my time and\r\n     attention for, possibly, two or three days. I tell you this, now,\r\n     that you may be prepared for it. And I know that however unwelcome\r\n     this may be to you, you will yet bear with it for my sake; for,\r\n     indeed, and indeed, Lucy dear, I would not dream of staying from\r\n     you so long, unless irresistibly coerced to it. Do not come to the\r\n     mansion until I come to you; and do not manifest any curiosity or\r\n     anxiety about me, should you chance in the interval to see my\r\n     mother in any other place. Keep just as cheerful as if I were by\r\n     you all the time. Do this, now, I conjure you; and so farewell!\"\r\n\r\nHe folded the note, and was about sealing it, when he hesitated a\r\nmoment, and instantly unfolding it, read it to himself. But he could not\r\nadequately comprehend his own writing, for a sudden cloud came over him.\r\nThis passed; and taking his pen hurriedly again, he added the following\r\npostscript:\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKHMZS1NTSMS70MTA5WEE","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN37K8XQ6X0B3E8NGN9RF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:58.029Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:14.031Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}