{"id":"01KG8AN2R3Q9SHC9V45XGVK6NQ","cid":"bafkreieyunuhplf6px7ndbeyvq4psmpvhz6gb5qjcdsodrmeguhaifzh4y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15869,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.924Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":15802,"text":"IV.\r\n\r\nGaining the Apostles', and leaving his two companions to the privacy of\r\ntheir chambers, Pierre sat silent and intent by the stove in the\r\ndining-room for a time, and then was on the point of entering his closet\r\nfrom the corridor, when Delly, suddenly following him, said to him, that\r\nshe had forgotten to mention it before, but he would find two letters in\r\nhis room, which had been separately left at the door during the absence\r\nof the party.\r\n\r\nHe passed into the closet, and slowly shooting the bolt--which, for want\r\nof something better, happened to be an old blunted dagger--walked, with\r\nhis cap yet unmoved, slowly up to the table, and beheld the letters.\r\nThey were lying with their sealed sides up; one in either hand, he\r\nlifted them; and held them straight out sideways from him.\r\n\r\n\"I see not the writing; know not yet, by mine own eye, that they are\r\nmeant for me; yet, in these hands I feel that I now hold the final\r\nponiards that shall stab me; and by stabbing me, make _me_ too a most\r\nswift stabber in the recoil. Which point first?--this!\"\r\n\r\nHe tore open the left-hand letter:--\r\n\r\n     \"SIR:--You are a swindler. Upon the pretense of writing a popular\r\n     novel for us, you have been receiving cash advances from us, while\r\n     passing through our press the sheets of a blasphemous rhapsody,\r\n     filched from the vile Atheists, Lucian and Voltaire. Our great\r\n     press of publication has hitherto prevented our slightest\r\n     inspection of our reader's proofs of your book. Send not another\r\n     sheet to us. Our bill for printing thus far, and also for our cash\r\n     advances, swindled out of us by you, is now in the hands of our\r\n     lawyer, who is instructed to proceed with instant rigor.\r\n\r\n      (_Signed_)       STEEL, FLINT & ASBESTOS.\"\r\n\r\nHe folded the left-hand letter, and put it beneath his left heel, and\r\nstood upon it so; and then opened the right-hand letter.\r\n\r\n     \"Thou, Pierre Glendinning, art a villainous and perjured liar. It\r\n     is the sole object of this letter imprintedly to convey the point\r\n     blank lie to thee; that taken in at thy heart, it may be thence\r\n     pulsed with thy blood, throughout thy system. We have let some\r\n     interval pass inactive, to confirm and solidify our hate.\r\n     Separately, and together, we brand thee, in thy every lung-cell, a\r\n     liar;--liar, because that is the scornfullest and loathsomest title\r\n     for a man; which in itself is the compend of all infamous things.\r\n\r\n     (_Signed_)       GLENDINNING STANLY,\r\n                      FREDERIC TARTAN.\"\r\n\r\nHe folded the right-hand letter, and put it beneath his right heel; then\r\nfolding his two arms, stood upon both the letters.\r\n\r\n\"These are most small circumstances; but happening just now to me,\r\nbecome indices to all immensities. For now am I hate-shod! On these I\r\nwill skate to my acquittal! No longer do I hold terms with aught.\r\nWorld's bread of life, and world's breath of honor, both are snatched\r\nfrom me; but I defy all world's bread and breath. Here I step out before\r\nthe drawn-up worlds in widest space, and challenge one and all of them\r\nto battle! Oh, Glen! oh, Fred! most fraternally do I leap to your\r\nrib-crushing hugs! Oh, how I love ye two, that yet can make me lively\r\nhate, in a world which elsewise only merits stagnant scorn!--Now, then,\r\nwhere is this swindler's, this coiner's book? Here, on this vile\r\ncounter, over which the coiner thought to pass it to the world, here\r\nwill I nail it fast, for a detected cheat! And thus nailed fast now, do\r\nI spit upon it, and so get the start of the wise world's worst abuse of\r\nit! Now I go out to meet my fate, walking toward me in the street.\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKJAB2S75Y7CQ5TWKRXE6","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN2QZRF7NTWMRZT35SMJS","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:58.115Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:35.294Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}