- description
- # Introduction of Wife and Her Reaction
## Overview
This segment, titled "Introduction of Wife and Her Reaction," is an excerpt from the short story "[I and My Chimney](arke:01KG8AJ72QDX8N8STJ3550X2NW)". It spans lines 854 to 877 of the original text and was extracted from the file "[i_and_my_chimney.txt](arke:01KG89J1H4TA19251AXAPE3ZWC)" as part of the "[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)" collection.
## Context
This segment follows the narrator's reflection on his kinsman and the history of his house and precedes his suspicions about his wife and Mr. Scribe's motives.
## Contents
In this passage, the narrator shares a letter with his wife, prompting an explosive reaction. The wife then calls their daughters to share in the excitement. The daughters, upon hearing the revelation, instinctively recognize its likelihood, citing the narrator's kinsman and the house's chimney as corroborating evidence for a secret closet.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:01.474Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- Introduction of Wife and Her Reaction
- end_line
- 877
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:36.358Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 854
- text
- Nevertheless, the note of Mr. Scribe, so strangely recalling the memory
of my kinsman, very naturally chimed in with what had been mysterious,
or at least unexplained, about him; vague flashings of ingots united in
my mind with vague gleamings of skulls. But the first cool thought soon
dismissed such chimeras; and, with a calm smile, I turned towards my
wife, who, meantime, had been sitting nearby, impatient enough, I dare
say, to know who could have taken it into his head to write me a
letter.
“Well, old man,” said she, “who is it from, and what is it about?”
“Read it, wife,” said I, handing it.
Read it she did, and then—such an explosion! I will not pretend to
describe her emotions, or repeat her expressions. Enough that my
daughters were quickly called in to share the excitement. Although they
had never before dreamed of such a revelation as Mr. Scribe’s; yet upon
the first suggestion they instinctively saw the extreme likelihood of
it. In corroboration, they cited first my kinsman, and second, my
chimney; alleging that the profound mystery involving the former, and
the equally profound masonry involving the latter, though both
acknowledged facts, were alike preposterous on any other supposition
than the secret closet.
- title
- Introduction of Wife and Her Reaction