{"id":"01KG8AN3X4YH668X9F772HXECQ","cid":"bafkreig6524k33pggizrit2bjs6vlmoysd5ji76jjmwklvru2sxm7ndlce","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5202,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":5154,"text":"French chateaux which powerfully recalled its dim image to me,\r\nespecially the two rows of small dormer windows projecting from the\r\ninverted hopper-roof. But that house was of wood, and these of stone.\r\nStill, sometimes I think that house was not in this country, but\r\nsomewhere in Europe; perhaps in France; but it is all bewildering to me;\r\nand so you must not start at me, for I can not but talk wildly upon so\r\nwild a theme.\r\n\r\n\"In this house I never saw any living human soul, but an old man and\r\nwoman. The old man's face was almost black with age, and was one purse\r\nof wrinkles, his hoary beard always tangled, streaked with dust and\r\nearthy crumbs. I think in summer he toiled a little in the garden, or\r\nsome spot like that, which lay on one side of the house. All my ideas\r\nare in uncertainty and confusion here. But the old man and the old woman\r\nseem to have fastened themselves indelibly upon my memory. I suppose\r\ntheir being the only human things around me then, _that_ caused the hold\r\nthey took upon me. They seldom spoke to me; but would sometimes, of\r\ndark, gusty nights, sit by the fire and stare at me, and then mumble to\r\neach other, and then stare at me again. They were not entirely unkind to\r\nme; but, I repeat, they seldom or never spoke to me. What words or\r\nlanguage they used to each other, this it is impossible for me to\r\nrecall. I have often wished to; for then I might at least have some\r\nadditional idea whether the house was in this country or somewhere\r\nbeyond the sea. And here I ought to say, that sometimes I have, I know\r\nnot what sort of vague remembrances of at one time--shortly after the\r\nperiod I now speak of--chattering in two different childish languages;\r\none of which waned in me as the other and latter grew. But more of this\r\nanon. It was the woman that gave me my meals; for I did not eat with\r\nthem. Once they sat by the fire with a loaf between them, and a bottle\r\nof some thin sort of reddish wine; and I went up to them, and asked to\r\neat with them, and touched the loaf. But instantly the old man made a\r\nmotion as if to strike me, but did not, and the woman, glaring at me,\r\nsnatched the loaf and threw it into the fire before them. I ran\r\nfrightened from the room; and sought a cat, which I had often tried to\r\ncoax into some intimacy, but, for some strange cause, without success.\r\nBut in my frightened loneliness, then, I sought the cat again, and found\r\nher up-stairs, softly scratching for some hidden thing among the litter\r\nof the abandoned fire-places. I called to her, for I dared not go into\r\nthe haunted chamber; but she only gazed sideways and unintelligently\r\ntoward me; and continued her noiseless searchings. I called again, and\r\nthen she turned round and hissed at me; and I ran down stairs, still\r\nstung with the thought of having been driven away there, too. I now knew\r\nnot where to go to rid myself of my loneliness. At last I went outside\r\nof the house, and sat down on a stone, but its coldness went up to my\r\nheart, and I rose and stood on my feet. But my head was dizzy; I could\r\nnot stand; I fell, and knew no more. But next morning I found myself in\r\nbed in my uncheerable room, and some dark bread and a cup of water by\r\nme.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKSYXW4P2PJ2ZT3S17FHA","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN3WY3T8YW9W3D1FHQDQF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXWET0H0RSPRQ64QHSXQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:59.300Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:17.361Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}