- end_line
- 6830
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:52.921Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 6771
- text
- IV.
"Thou rememberest, my brother, my telling thee last night, how
the--the--thou knowest what I mean--_that, there_"--avertedly pointing
to the guitar; "thou rememberest how it came into my possession. But
perhaps I did not tell thee, that the pedler said he had got it in
barter from the servants of a great house some distance from the place
where I was then residing."
Pierre signed his acquiescence, and Isabel proceeded:
"Now, at long though stated intervals, that man passed the farm-house in
his trading route between the small towns and villages. When I
discovered the gilding in the guitar, I kept watch for him; for though I
truly felt persuaded that Fate had the dispensing of her own secrets in
her own good time; yet I also felt persuaded that in some cases Fate
drops us one little hint, leaving our own minds to follow it up, so that
we of ourselves may come to the grand secret in reserve. So I kept
diligent watch for him; and the next time he stopped, without permitting
him at all to guess my motives, I contrived to steal out of him what
great house it was from which the guitar had come. And, my brother, it
was the mansion of Saddle Meadows."
Pierre started, and the girl went on:
"Yes, my brother, Saddle Meadows; 'old General Glendinning's place,' he
said; 'but the old hero's long dead and gone now; and--the more's the
pity--so is the young General, his son, dead and gone; but then there is
a still younger grandson General left; that family always keep the title
and the name a-going; yes, even to the surname,--Pierre. Pierre
Glendinning was the white-haired old General's name, who fought in the
old French and Indian wars; and Pierre Glendinning is his young
great-grandson's name.' Thou may'st well look at me so, my
brother;--yes, he meant thee, _thee_, my brother."
"But the guitar--the guitar!"--cried Pierre--"how came the guitar openly
at Saddle Meadows, and how came it to be bartered away by servants? Tell
me that, Isabel!"
"Do not put such impetuous questions to me, Pierre; else thou mayst
recall the old--may be, it is the evil spell upon me. I can not
precisely and knowingly answer thee. I could surmise; but what are
surmises worth? Oh, Pierre, better, a million times, and far sweeter are
mysteries than surmises: though the mystery be unfathomable, it is still
the unfathomableness of fullness; but the surmise, that is but shallow
and unmeaning emptiness."
"But this is the most inexplicable point of all. Tell me, Isabel; surely
thou must have thought something about this thing."
"Much, Pierre, very much; but only about the mystery of it--nothing
more. Could I, I would not now be fully told, how the guitar came to be
at Saddle Meadows, and came to be bartered away by the servants of
Saddle Meadows. Enough, that it found me out, and came to me, and spoke
and sung to me, and soothed me, and has been every thing to me."
She paused a moment; while vaguely to his secret self Pierre revolved
these strange revealings; but now he was all attention again as Isabel
resumed.
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- Chunk 1