Replace clustering with a catalogue, and hand-write the references to judge it against
The pipeline's embed-and-cluster step is dead, and this commit holds both the evidence for that and the step proposed to replace it. Predicaments. Scenes are re-described as "what the person is up against", with no names, jobs or places, then embedded and clustered (redescribe.py, topic_words.py, topic_share.py). The pilot chose qwen3:14b over 3b by reading both side by side. Two defects the pilot exposed are fixed: split.py missed titles in quotes and a contents subtitle after a dash, so three stories had been merged into their neighbours, and strip_names.py read New York place names as people. The corrected corpus is probe/v2 (97 stories, 839 scenes); carry_summaries.py reuses the 829 unchanged v1 summaries. Topic share fell from 20% to 13% at k=60, short of the pre-registered 10%. Hand references. Three corpora were read scene by scene and written up by hand, under the same prompt rules the local models get, as a baseline to judge them against: O. Henry (probe/v2/claude, 839 scenes, 20 situations), Wharton's Descent of Man (probe/wharton, 262 scenes, 16 groups) and Jacobs's The Lady of the Barge (probe/jacobs, 157 scenes, 19 groups). Each has its own README and a readable page. No inference was used for any of them. Catalogue. probe/catalogue maps every hand group in the three references onto 36 situation entries, with an answer key per corpus and one recurrence rule applied to all three. classify.py assigns a scene one entry or none, leave-one-corpus- out; score.py checks it against the key, with a self-test on random labels. Why clustering is out: hand-written predicaments, embedded and clustered exactly as the model's were, agree with the hand grouping at ARI 0.05 — no better than the 14B text's 0.07. Better rewriting cannot rescue it. Embeddings cannot even shortlist: the hand label is the nearest entry 13% of the time and in the top 8 half the time. The classification runs are not here. The dev and test runs are pre-registered in probe/catalogue/README.md with the bar set beforehand, and are blocked on the inference host, whose GPU has fallen off the PCIe bus three times. The 30-scene partial output in out/ is not a result. Review page. The situation review is now a browser page rather than JSON edited by hand (review_page.py, review_page_logic.cjs with Node tests, format schema v2). It has never been rendered in a real browser. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014BygvsUXV9eU6oHkTCkKZ1
This commit is contained in:
JesseMarkowitz
co-authored by
Claude Opus 5
Claude Opus 5
parent
fa3769d0fe
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[
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{"chunk":0,"story":0,"summary":"A scholar returns from a rare holiday alone, secretly delighted by a private idea he has hidden from his wife and colleagues.","predicament":"Someone carries home a private excitement they mean to keep from everyone who knows them."},
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{"chunk":1,"story":0,"summary":"Alone in the woods for the first time since his marriage, a scholar indulges an idea he has never had the freedom to pursue.","predicament":"Someone long hemmed in by routine finally has time to themselves and means to use it."},
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{"chunk":2,"story":0,"summary":"A comfortable, dutiful marriage leaves a scholar no companion in the thinking that is his real life.","predicament":"Someone whose home life is secure but closed to what they care about lives the real part of life alone."},
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{"chunk":3,"story":0,"summary":"A scholar's modest earnings must support his family, and his wife economises to keep up appearances while taking pride in his obscure reputation.","predicament":"Someone's serious work earns respect but not enough money to satisfy the family that depends on it."},
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{"chunk":4,"story":0,"summary":"Overworked supporting his family, a scholar breaks down, and in the enforced rest surveys how his field is seen by the public.","predicament":"Someone forced to stop working steps back and wonders what their life's labour has amounted to in others' eyes."},
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{"chunk":5,"story":0,"summary":"A scholar observes that his once-private discipline has become a popular fashion that everyone reads and holds opinions on.","predicament":"Someone finds the thing they devoted themselves to taken up and cheapened by a crowd that does not understand it."},
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{"chunk":6,"story":0,"summary":"Angered and amused by popular pseudo-science, a scholar resolves to write a parody of it so absurd the public will laugh at its own prophets.","predicament":"Someone offended by a popular falsehood decides to mock it, trusting that the crowd will see the joke."},
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{"chunk":7,"story":0,"summary":"A scholar brings his manuscript to an old college friend now a prosperous popular publisher, keeping its satirical purpose a secret.","predicament":"Someone approaches an old friend for a favour, counting on the friend being unchanged by years of success."},
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{"chunk":8,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher warns the book may be too learned to sell, but agrees to take it; the author waves off the question of payment.","predicament":"Someone offers their work on the strength of friendship and refuses to haggle, trusting the other to see its worth."},
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{"chunk":9,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher has rushed the book into print and congratulates the author on abandoning the scepticism of his youth.","predicament":"Someone discovers that the person they confided in has completely misread what they meant."},
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{"chunk":10,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher takes the parody for a sincere confession of faith; the author, realising, bursts out laughing.","predicament":"Someone learns their joke has been taken in earnest by exactly the audience it mocked."},
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{"chunk":11,"story":0,"summary":"The author explains the book is a satire; the publisher, offended, suggests it need not be read ironically at all.","predicament":"Someone explains their true intent and is told it hardly matters, since no one else will see it either."},
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{"chunk":12,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher offers to sell the book as sincere, promising a mass success, and asks the author to let it stand as his real conviction.","predicament":"Someone is offered success on condition they let the world believe something they do not believe."},
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{"chunk":13,"story":0,"summary":"The author agrees to stay silent, telling himself the joke has only grown larger and that nothing in the book will change.","predicament":"Someone talks themselves into a deception by calling it a bigger version of what they meant all along."},
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{"chunk":14,"story":0,"summary":"Short of money after illness, the author accepts a large advance, sure his colleagues will see through the book and his reputation will be safe.","predicament":"Someone in a money pinch accepts a well-paid compromise, telling themselves it will cost them nothing that matters."},
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{"chunk":15,"story":0,"summary":"The book is already printing, so resistance seems futile; his wife, having seen a glowing review, asks why he kept it from her.","predicament":"Someone who has kept a compromising success from their family is confronted by a proud spouse who found out elsewhere."},
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{"chunk":16,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher's advertising campaign floods the country, making the book impossible to escape.","predicament":"Someone watches something they quietly agreed to grow far larger and louder than they ever meant."},
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{"chunk":17,"story":0,"summary":"The author hides in his work on publication day, then reads a serious review praising his mock platitudes as noble truths.","predicament":"Someone embarrassed by their own success reads praise for the very thing they meant as a sham."},
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{"chunk":18,"story":0,"summary":"Every paper follows the first review, and the publisher predicts the book will sell for years; the author is alarmed by its staying power.","predicament":"Someone who accepted a passing embarrassment learns it will follow them for years."},
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{"chunk":19,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher praises the book's sentiment and pays more; the author, pestered by journalists, is asked by his wife whether interviews pay.","predicament":"Someone resisting the demands of fame finds their family eager for the money it could bring."},
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{"chunk":20,"story":0,"summary":"His wife confesses their son has run into debt since the book's fame; the author offers to write a lucrative popular series to cover it.","predicament":"Someone's family has run up costs on the strength of their success, and the only quick remedy is more of what they despise."},
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{"chunk":21,"story":0,"summary":"Having sworn not to extend the fraud, the author begins the popular series within the hour, mainly to be rid of his wife's demands.","predicament":"Someone breaks their own resolution because giving in is the quickest way to get peace at home."},
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{"chunk":22,"story":0,"summary":"Fame opens society to the author; charmed by clever women, he grows used to telling how the book first came to him.","predicament":"Someone enjoying the attention their false reputation brings slips into living the part."},
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{"chunk":23,"story":0,"summary":"The author gives paid interviews on every subject and lends his face to advertisements, which keeps his household solvent.","predicament":"Someone sells their name more and more freely because it keeps the household comfortable."},
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{"chunk":24,"story":0,"summary":"The author leads a double life, courted by the public while his real research goes on unnoticed by colleagues who ignore the book.","predicament":"Someone keeps a public persona and a private vocation apart, and wonders what their peers really think."},
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{"chunk":25,"story":0,"summary":"The author's earnings buy him instruments for real research; nearing a genuine discovery, he confides it to one trusted colleague.","predicament":"Someone uses ill-gotten means to fund their real ambition and needs an honest judge to test it."},
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{"chunk":26,"story":0,"summary":"A colleague urges him to drop everything and write his serious book; the author asks his publisher for an advance and is refused.","predicament":"Someone ready to do their real work finds the backer they relied on now wants something first."},
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{"chunk":27,"story":0,"summary":"The publisher says the old book is fading and offers a big advance only for a sequel; the author declares he will write a serious book instead.","predicament":"Someone is offered money to repeat a sham and must choose between it and the real work they want to do."},
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{"chunk":28,"story":0,"summary":"Warned that popularity perishes, the author wavers, takes the advance on the sequel, and tells himself the serious book can wait six months.","predicament":"Someone who meant to refuse a tempting compromise gives in, promising themselves it is only a delay."}
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]
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[
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{"chunk":29,"story":1,"summary":"A newly married man waits eagerly for his wife on their first evening in his own house.","predicament":"Someone starting a new life with a partner hopes the fresh start will be as happy as it feels."},
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{"chunk":30,"story":1,"summary":"The honeymoon is cut short by the illness of the wife's daughter from her first marriage; the husband takes comfort in his wife's calm.","predicament":"Someone's new household is disrupted at once by a crisis inherited from their partner's past."},
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{"chunk":31,"story":1,"summary":"The husband recalls the gossip about his wife's obscure origins and first divorce, which society chose to blame on the unknown first husband.","predicament":"Someone has married a person with a talked-about past and has chosen to believe the kindest version of it."},
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{"chunk":32,"story":1,"summary":"The wife's second marriage bought her social standing, ended in a divorce that made her sympathetic, and friends doubted the wisdom of her third.","predicament":"Someone goes ahead with a choice that friends openly warn against, confident they know better."},
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{"chunk":33,"story":1,"summary":"The wife arrives worried: her first husband's lawyer has written about his right to see the child.","predicament":"Someone's comfortable new start is interrupted by a claim from their partner's former spouse."},
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{"chunk":34,"story":1,"summary":"The first husband has the legal right to visit his sick daughter in the new husband's house; the husband reluctantly agrees.","predicament":"Someone must let an unwelcome person into their home because that person has a right they cannot refuse."},
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{"chunk":35,"story":1,"summary":"Fleeing the house on the visiting day, the husband is squeezed next to his wife's second ex-husband on a crowded train and must make small talk.","predicament":"Someone trying to avoid one awkward encounter is thrown into another with a rival they cannot snub."},
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{"chunk":36,"story":1,"summary":"The ex-husband mentions business with the husband's ailing partner; the husband escapes the train and welcomes the extra work.","predicament":"Someone seeks refuge from a painful private situation in extra work."},
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{"chunk":37,"story":1,"summary":"At lunch the husband sees the ex-husband savouring his coffee with brandy and envies his ease.","predicament":"Someone stewing over an awkward situation watches a rival who seems not to feel it at all."},
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{"chunk":38,"story":1,"summary":"The husband comes home and finds his wife serene and happy, having apparently put the day's visitor out of mind.","predicament":"Someone troubled by a situation finds their partner untroubled and wonders what that means."},
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{"chunk":39,"story":1,"summary":"His wife says she let the nurse receive the visitor, then absent-mindedly pours brandy into her husband's coffee as her ex-husband took it, and blushes.","predicament":"Someone catches an unintended glimpse of their partner's past habits and cannot un-see it."},
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{"chunk":40,"story":1,"summary":"The husband's ill partner asks him to handle an important deal for his wife's ex-husband; for the firm's sake he agrees.","predicament":"Someone is asked by a superior to serve a person they would rather avoid, and cannot refuse without harming the firm."},
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{"chunk":41,"story":1,"summary":"The ex-husband behaves well in the meeting and lets slip that he was once desperate for money; the husband is glad to seem the steadier man.","predicament":"Someone forced to do business with a rival tries to come out of it looking the more composed."},
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{"chunk":42,"story":1,"summary":"Coming home unexpectedly, the husband finds his wife's first husband, a mild shabby man, waiting in his library.","predicament":"Someone comes face to face with a person they had imagined as a villain and finds them harmless."},
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{"chunk":43,"story":1,"summary":"The husband is polite to the first husband, then retreats upset that this man has the run of his house.","predicament":"Someone must be civil to a person whose very presence in their home they resent."},
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{"chunk":44,"story":1,"summary":"Seeing the first husband's cheap manners, the husband pictures his wife's humble former life and is disturbed by how completely she has left it behind.","predicament":"Someone glimpses their partner's hidden origins and begins to doubt who they really married."},
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{"chunk":45,"story":1,"summary":"The husband suspects his wife misrepresented her first marriage; later the first husband asks to speak to him about the child's governess.","predicament":"Someone begins to suspect a partner of misleading them, just as the person misled about asks for their help."},
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{"chunk":46,"story":1,"summary":"The first husband reveals he did see the wife on the first visit, exposing her lie, and says the governess is making the girl dishonest.","predicament":"Someone learns from an outsider that their partner lied to them, while being asked to intervene in a family matter."},
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{"chunk":47,"story":1,"summary":"The first husband asserts his legal right to a voice in the girl's upbringing; the husband, learning of the man's sacrifices for his daughter, grows uneasy about his wife's account.","predicament":"Someone must pass on a claim from a person they have come to respect, against their own partner's wishes."},
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{"chunk":48,"story":1,"summary":"The wife calls the first husband ungentlemanly and cries; the husband sees she knew his rights all along and expects to be pitied.","predicament":"Someone presses a partner to honour an obligation, and the partner responds with tears instead of answers."},
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{"chunk":49,"story":1,"summary":"The first husband uses his rights modestly; meanwhile the husband must keep meeting the second ex-husband on business he cannot pass on.","predicament":"Someone must keep working closely with a person they would rather avoid, because their position demands it."},
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{"chunk":50,"story":1,"summary":"The husband finds his wife chatting with her second ex-husband at a ball; she offers to do whatever he wishes about speaking to him.","predicament":"Someone finds their partner on friendly terms with a former lover and is offered whatever rule they want to set."},
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{"chunk":51,"story":1,"summary":"Sickened by his wife's endless pliancy, the husband agrees she should be civil; society praises her for smoothing an awkward situation.","predicament":"Someone realises the partner they admired for ease simply gives way to everyone, and must decide whether to mind."},
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{"chunk":52,"story":1,"summary":"The husband feels he owns only a share in his wife, with her former husbands as partners, and resents her tactful acquiescence.","predicament":"Someone feels they hold only part of a person whose loyalties are shared with others from their past."},
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{"chunk":53,"story":1,"summary":"Habit dulls the husband's objections; he reckons that his predecessors trained his wife to make him comfortable.","predicament":"Someone trades their scruples for comfort, little by little, and learns to call it a bargain."},
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{"chunk":54,"story":1,"summary":"The husband comes to accept the first husband's visits, and one evening offers him a cigar and a seat by the fire.","predicament":"Someone who once resented an intruder finds themselves at ease with him."},
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{"chunk":55,"story":1,"summary":"The second ex-husband arrives unannounced on business while the first husband sits there; all three men stand awkwardly as tea is laid out.","predicament":"Someone is caught in a room with two people from their partner's past, and no one knows how to behave."},
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{"chunk":56,"story":1,"summary":"The wife enters, greets both former husbands graciously, and the three men stand awkward before her.","predicament":"Someone must host, in one room, people whose claims on them conflict."},
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{"chunk":57,"story":1,"summary":"The wife smooths the moment by pouring tea for all three men, and the husband takes his cup with a laugh.","predicament":"Someone in an absurd position chooses to laugh and go along rather than make a scene."}
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]
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[
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{"chunk":58,"story":2,"summary":"A society wife who has just published a daring novel dreads the arrival of press clippings now that her uncle, a bishop, is in town.","predicament":"Someone who has done something bold in public dreads the moment a disapproving elder relative hears of it."},
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{"chunk":59,"story":2,"summary":"She complains that her husband is embarrassingly proud of the book and will read the reviews aloud to visitors; she fears a scandal.","predicament":"Someone is mortified that their spouse's naive enthusiasm will expose them in front of the people they fear."},
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{"chunk":60,"story":2,"summary":"She insists her provocative title is honest, not commercial, and fears she has dragged her husband's name through the mire.","predicament":"Someone who meant to provoke now worries about what it will cost the family whose name they used."},
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{"chunk":61,"story":2,"summary":"She says using a pen-name would be cowardice; her cousin, a hard-up hack writer, says an attack from the press would make her rich.","predicament":"Someone proud of their courage is told bluntly that the risk they fear is exactly what would bring success."},
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{"chunk":62,"story":2,"summary":"She claims to speak for unhappy women; her divorced cousin warns that women with a past avoid stirring up mud. The bishop's arrival terrifies her.","predicament":"Someone claims to speak for others who have suffered, and is warned by one of them that it may not be welcome."},
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{"chunk":63,"story":2,"summary":"The bishop arrives; he favours this niece over her cousin, whose cheap books outsell his own and who refused his advice during her divorce.","predicament":"Someone in authority rewards the relative who flatters them and resents the one who went her own way."},
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{"chunk":64,"story":2,"summary":"Left alone with the bishop, the novelist feigns interest in his book to deflect talk of her own, and gets its plot wrong.","predicament":"Someone tries to steer an elder away from a dangerous topic by flattering them, and is caught not knowing their work."},
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{"chunk":65,"story":2,"summary":"The bishop says his devout book was praised only by a friend who owed him favours, and that its best hope would be a public denunciation.","predicament":"Someone admits the only thing that would help their failing work is a public scandal they cannot decently arrange."},
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{"chunk":66,"story":2,"summary":"The bishop explains that a charge of immorality would sell thousands, needed to fund a church window he has at heart.","predicament":"Someone needs money for a cause and wishes they could be attacked in public to get it."},
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{"chunk":67,"story":2,"summary":"The niece blurts out her own fear of not being read; the bishop turns to her novel and asks her to change its title.","predicament":"Someone betrays their own worry and is immediately asked by an elder to tone down their work."},
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{"chunk":68,"story":2,"summary":"The bishop assumes the title was forced on her or chosen innocently, and warns it will offend the readers she should value.","predicament":"Someone is lectured by an elder who assumes they could not have meant to give offence."},
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{"chunk":69,"story":2,"summary":"She means to defend her choice but, under the bishop's certainty, begins apologising instead; her husband walks in.","predicament":"Someone who meant to stand by their choice finds themselves backing down before an elder's authority."},
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{"chunk":70,"story":2,"summary":"The husband bursts in waving the first review, delighted that the bishop is there to hear it.","predicament":"Someone's eager spouse forces a private worry into the open before exactly the wrong witness."},
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{"chunk":71,"story":2,"summary":"The narrator explains that the novelist suffers from a husband who admires everything she does without understanding it.","predicament":"Someone is frustrated by a spouse whose unconditional approval makes nothing they do matter."},
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{"chunk":72,"story":2,"summary":"She wrote the book partly to provoke her husband's disapproval, but he adores it and presses it on everyone.","predicament":"Someone tries to provoke a reaction from a partner and gets only praise, which defeats the purpose."},
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{"chunk":73,"story":2,"summary":"The husband reads the review aloud in front of the bishop; it begins by denouncing the filth of modern fiction.","predicament":"Someone must sit through a public verdict on their work in front of the person they most wanted to keep it from."},
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{"chunk":74,"story":2,"summary":"The review calls her novel sweetly harmless; weeks later her cousin finds her crushed.","predicament":"Someone who wanted to shock is dismissed as harmless, which wounds more than condemnation would."},
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{"chunk":75,"story":2,"summary":"She reveals that every review has called her daring book a pretty, inoffensive story.","predicament":"Someone who staked their pride on being taken seriously finds everyone treats them as tame."},
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{"chunk":76,"story":2,"summary":"The cousin says the bishop blessed the book to bury it, and suggests the bishop could make it sell by denouncing it.","predicament":"Someone learns that a rival's approval was a way of smothering them, and is advised to provoke an attack instead."},
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{"chunk":77,"story":2,"summary":"The cousin explains that nobody reads books any more, only puffs, and that only a denunciation from pulpit or press will sell one.","predicament":"Someone is told that merit counts for nothing and that the way to succeed is to engineer a scandal."},
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{"chunk":78,"story":2,"summary":"Months later, a famous novelist travelling with her mocks the bishop who publicly attacked her book; she defends her uncle's sense of duty.","predicament":"Someone who has quietly benefited from a public attack defends the attacker's motives to an outsider."},
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{"chunk":79,"story":2,"summary":"Her book has sold a hundred and fifty thousand; strangers recognise and praise her courage on the train.","predicament":"Someone enjoys a success whose real origin they cannot admit to the people praising them."},
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{"chunk":80,"story":2,"summary":"The bishop's devoted friend tells her the bishop believes the anonymous gift of the window rewarded his courage in denouncing her book.","predicament":"Someone hears a rival take credit for an outcome they secretly paid for."},
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{"chunk":81,"story":2,"summary":"The friend praises her forgiveness and hints that others think the bishop's attack was deserved.","predicament":"Someone must smile through backhanded praise from people who think they were rightly punished."},
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{"chunk":82,"story":2,"summary":"In the cathedral she enjoys the attention of the congregation and the press, which she owes to the bishop's denunciation.","predicament":"Someone savours public attention that exists only because of an arrangement nobody else knows about."},
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{"chunk":83,"story":2,"summary":"She plans a more outspoken second novel; the bishop begins his address celebrating the window's mysterious donor.","predicament":"Someone emboldened by success prepares to go further, while waiting to hear how their secret part is described."},
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{"chunk":84,"story":2,"summary":"The bishop hints that the donor was a woman and that a book played its part, and eyes turn to her.","predicament":"Someone fears a public speaker is about to reveal the secret deal they struck."},
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{"chunk":85,"story":2,"summary":"Under everyone's gaze she blushes and panics while the bishop expounds on the power of novels for good or ill.","predicament":"Someone sits exposed to public attention, waiting to learn whether they are about to be named."},
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{"chunk":86,"story":2,"summary":"She nearly walks out, then learns the bishop is crediting his own book with inspiring the gift.","predicament":"Someone expecting to be exposed instead hears another person take all the credit for what they did."},
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{"chunk":87,"story":2,"summary":"A fellow writer guesses she paid for the window herself; she half denies it, indignant that the bishop claims credit.","predicament":"Someone who secretly bought a favour cannot claim credit for it without admitting the bargain."}
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]
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[
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{"chunk":88,"story":3,"summary":"A servant weakened by illness and nearly out of money is offered a place by a kindly former acquaintance.","predicament":"Someone down on their luck and unable to find work is offered a way back by a well-wisher."},
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{"chunk":89,"story":3,"summary":"The patron warns that the house is gloomy, the mistress an invalid who lost her children, and the last maid is dead; the servant accepts.","predicament":"Someone who badly needs a place takes one they have been frankly warned will be hard."},
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{"chunk":90,"story":3,"summary":"Told to keep out of the master's way, the servant travels to a large dark country house and is received by the cook.","predicament":"Someone arrives at a new post with an unexplained warning about the person in charge."},
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{"chunk":91,"story":3,"summary":"On her way to her room she sees a pale woman in the passage; the housemaid scolds about a room across the hall that must stay locked.","predicament":"Someone new to a household notices something odd that the others refuse to discuss."},
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{"chunk":92,"story":3,"summary":"The other servants praise the mistress; the maid meets her and is instantly devoted.","predicament":"Someone meets a new employer and feels an immediate loyalty they did not expect."},
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{"chunk":93,"story":3,"summary":"The mistress never uses the bell to her maid's room, always sending the housemaid instead.","predicament":"Someone new notices an unexplained habit in how they are treated and cannot ask why."},
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{"chunk":94,"story":3,"summary":"No one admits to seeing the pale woman; the cook grows confused when asked where the last maid slept.","predicament":"Someone asks innocent questions and finds the people around them evasive."},
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{"chunk":95,"story":3,"summary":"The cook begs her not to use the locked room, the dead maid's, and refuses to describe her; the master's arrival puts the household on edge.","predicament":"Someone senses a household secret, and everyone they ask shuts the conversation down."},
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{"chunk":96,"story":3,"summary":"The master, a coarse, leering man, looks the maid over and dismisses her; the mistress goes cold in his presence and brightens when he leaves.","predicament":"Someone in service must work around a master everyone fears and the mistress shrinks from."},
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{"chunk":97,"story":3,"summary":"A gentle neighbour who shares the mistress's love of books is her only company in winter, and the servants all like him.","predicament":"Someone lonely in an unhappy marriage finds comfort in one kind friend."},
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{"chunk":98,"story":3,"summary":"The master comes and goes, drinks heavily and grumbles; the servants hint the match was unhappy from the start.","predicament":"Someone watches their employer endure a spouse's coarseness and can say nothing."},
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{"chunk":99,"story":3,"summary":"The maid's duties are light and the mistress kind, but she feels a weight whenever she re-enters the house.","predicament":"Someone in a comfortable position cannot shake a sense of dread they cannot explain."},
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{"chunk":100,"story":3,"summary":"Shut in by rain, the maid grows nervous about the locked room; on a trip to town she meets an old colleague who reacts to her employer's name.","predicament":"Someone uneasy in their post learns that others have heard things about it."},
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{"chunk":101,"story":3,"summary":"The colleague says four maids have left in six months; back at the house the master has arrived and the cook is relieved she returned.","predicament":"Someone hears their predecessors all quit, and finds the staff relieved they did not."},
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{"chunk":102,"story":3,"summary":"The cook begs her to be good to the mistress; the maid overhears the master jealously accusing his wife over the neighbour.","predicament":"Someone overhears a jealous quarrel between their employers and must pretend not to have."},
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{"chunk":103,"story":3,"summary":"Uneasy after a tense dinner, the maid is woken at night by her bell ringing for the first time.","predicament":"Someone is called in the night by a summons that should not have come."},
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{"chunk":104,"story":3,"summary":"She hears the locked room open and steps hurry ahead of her; at her mistress's door the master answers, asking how many of them there are.","predicament":"Someone answering a call at night must walk where something frightening has just gone, and is met by a hostile master."},
|
||||
{"chunk":105,"story":3,"summary":"The mistress, weak, calls the maid by the dead maid's name; next morning she sends her secretly to fetch medicine and carry a note to the neighbour.","predicament":"Someone is sent on a discreet errand that seems meant to be hidden from the head of the house."},
|
||||
{"chunk":106,"story":3,"summary":"Fearing the mistress means to poison herself, the maid rushes to the chemist and learns the medicine is harmless.","predicament":"Someone fears their employer means to harm themselves, and checks quietly without betraying them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":107,"story":3,"summary":"Wondering whether the note was the secret errand, the maid delivers it; the master confronts her and she lies to protect her mistress.","predicament":"Someone is questioned by a suspicious superior and must decide whether to lie to protect another."},
|
||||
{"chunk":108,"story":3,"summary":"Afraid to stay yet unwilling to abandon her mistress, the maid finds a photograph of the dead maid and recognises the pale woman.","predicament":"Someone who wants to flee a frightening post stays out of loyalty, and then finds proof their fear was real."},
|
||||
{"chunk":109,"story":3,"summary":"The cook deflects when shown the photograph; the master stays on, taunting his wife about the neighbour's absence.","predicament":"Someone who brings evidence to a colleague is brushed off, while the tension in the household grows."},
|
||||
{"chunk":110,"story":3,"summary":"The neighbour calls and all seem friendly, but the maid lies awake each night, dreading the silence of the locked room, and cannot bring herself to leave.","predicament":"Someone lives in constant dread at their post yet cannot make themselves give notice."},
|
||||
{"chunk":111,"story":3,"summary":"The mistress grows weaker and more dependent on the maid; with the master away the servants joke about him.","predicament":"Someone becomes the only support of a failing employer and feels bound to stay."},
|
||||
{"chunk":112,"story":3,"summary":"On a cheerful afternoon, for once at ease, the maid looks up and sees the dead maid standing in her doorway.","predicament":"Someone who has just let their guard down is confronted with the thing they feared."},
|
||||
{"chunk":113,"story":3,"summary":"The apparition looks at her pleadingly and leads her out of the house into the snow.","predicament":"Someone is silently begged for help by a figure who cannot say what it needs."},
|
||||
{"chunk":114,"story":3,"summary":"The figure, leaving no footprints, leads her to the neighbour's gate and waits for her to act.","predicament":"Someone is led to a place where they must act, without knowing what they are meant to do."},
|
||||
{"chunk":115,"story":3,"summary":"The neighbour comes out cheerfully; the figure vanishes, and the maid faints, unable to guess the warning.","predicament":"Someone given a warning they cannot interpret is left alone with a secret they cannot name."},
|
||||
{"chunk":116,"story":3,"summary":"She makes an excuse to the neighbour, returns home, is sent to bed, and at night hears a door open below.","predicament":"Someone covering for what they saw goes to bed uneasy, sure something is about to happen."},
|
||||
{"chunk":117,"story":3,"summary":"Her bell rings; she sees the apparition at the stairhead and hears a key in the front door; the mistress, still dressed, denies ringing and sends her away.","predicament":"Someone who comes to help is sent away by the person they came for, who is plainly hiding something."},
|
||||
{"chunk":118,"story":3,"summary":"The maid warns that the master has returned; the mistress collapses, and the master pushes past, heading for the dressing room to meet a friend.","predicament":"Someone must try to stop a furious spouse bursting in on what he believes is a betrayal."},
|
||||
{"chunk":119,"story":3,"summary":"The apparition appears in the doorway; the master recoils; the mistress dies. At the funeral the master glares at the pale neighbour, then leaves.","predicament":"Someone who tried to shield their employer's secret sees the confrontation end in death all the same."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||
[
|
||||
{"chunk":120,"story":4,"summary":"A clever, condescending husband notices his simple wife glowing and teases her into admitting she has done something he will not like.","predicament":"Someone senses their spouse is hiding something and teases it out of them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":121,"story":4,"summary":"The wife, who holds only inherited opinions, says she expects his disapproval and has allowed for it, then announces 'a baby'.","predicament":"Someone who has always given way to a spouse announces a wish they know will be opposed."},
|
||||
{"chunk":122,"story":4,"summary":"Baffled, the husband learns she wants the child to be theirs and has long grieved at being childless.","predicament":"Someone discovers that their spouse has carried a deep disappointment they never noticed."},
|
||||
{"chunk":123,"story":4,"summary":"The wife confesses her loneliness and that she chose nursery wallpaper years ago; the husband feels he has failed her.","predicament":"Someone realises their neglect has left a partner lonely for years."},
|
||||
{"chunk":124,"story":4,"summary":"She asks to adopt an orphan from a hospital, promising it will never bother him.","predicament":"Someone asks a reluctant partner for the one thing they want, promising it will cost the partner nothing."},
|
||||
{"chunk":125,"story":4,"summary":"The husband agrees without resistance, accepting future ridicule as penance for having underestimated his wife.","predicament":"Someone agrees to a partner's wish they would normally mock, as a way of making amends."},
|
||||
{"chunk":126,"story":4,"summary":"The husband reflects that he has been faithful but emotionally absent, keeping his wife out of his inner life.","predicament":"Someone who has kept the letter of a commitment realises they have neglected its spirit."},
|
||||
{"chunk":127,"story":4,"summary":"At the hospital the wife is transfigured by the child; the husband feels invisible to her.","predicament":"Someone watches their partner's devotion shift wholly to someone new and feels shut out."},
|
||||
{"chunk":128,"story":4,"summary":"The husband allows a legal adoption but refuses to let the child be renamed, and begins to regret the whole business.","predicament":"Someone who has given way on the big question digs in on a small one and starts to regret giving way."},
|
||||
{"chunk":129,"story":4,"summary":"The child is quiet and healthy; the wife's character is not changed but magnified by motherhood.","predicament":"Someone finds a change they dreaded is milder than feared, but it makes a partner more of what they already were."},
|
||||
{"chunk":130,"story":4,"summary":"The wife grows assertive and treats the husband as the child's father; he accepts it because she is happy.","predicament":"Someone is drawn into a role they never chose, and puts up with it because it makes a partner happy."},
|
||||
{"chunk":131,"story":4,"summary":"The child does not bring the couple together; the wife's personality expands until the husband is squeezed into a corner of his own home.","predicament":"Someone gives ground at home again and again until they have almost no room left."},
|
||||
{"chunk":132,"story":4,"summary":"The girl grows healthy and good, and the wife, feeling unequal to her, asks the husband to take charge of her education.","predicament":"Someone who feels out of their depth hands a responsibility to a partner they consider more capable."},
|
||||
{"chunk":133,"story":4,"summary":"The wife humbly admits she is too stupid to know what is best for the child and asks the husband to decide.","predicament":"Someone admits they are not up to a task and asks another to take it on."},
|
||||
{"chunk":134,"story":4,"summary":"The girl hoards facts without understanding and grows proud and superior; the wife hopes she will be a companion for the husband.","predicament":"Someone takes on a protégé who turns out to be clever but cold and conceited."},
|
||||
{"chunk":135,"story":4,"summary":"The girl sets about reforming the whole household, driving off cooks and lecturing the husband until he dines out.","predicament":"Someone at home is bossed and corrected by a young person who has made themselves everyone's guardian."},
|
||||
{"chunk":136,"story":4,"summary":"The husband's attempts to check her only hurt his wife; the girl, pretty but charmless, fails in society despite great expense.","predicament":"Someone cannot rein in a difficult young person without wounding the partner who adores them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":137,"story":4,"summary":"The girl takes her failure out on her mother, then turns to charity and makes the husband her evening project.","predicament":"Someone watches a young person take out their disappointment on a devoted parent, then turn it on them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":138,"story":4,"summary":"The wife asks him to bear the girl's attentions; then a young man starts calling, and the parents hardly dare hope he comes for her.","predicament":"Someone longing to be free of a burden sees a chance of it and dares not say so."},
|
||||
{"chunk":139,"story":4,"summary":"An effusively polite young man courts the girl; the parents pretend not to notice while she shows no emotion at all.","predicament":"Someone hoping for a match that would relieve them must pretend indifference while it hangs in the balance."},
|
||||
{"chunk":140,"story":4,"summary":"He proposes, and the girl demands a month to think it over, to her parents' agony.","predicament":"Someone longs for a decision that is entirely in another's hands, and that person insists on delaying it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":141,"story":4,"summary":"The girl accepts and at once begins to dominate her fiancé; the parents, pitying him, wonder whether to warn him.","predicament":"Someone must decide whether to warn an outsider about a relative's faults, at the risk of losing a longed-for outcome."},
|
||||
{"chunk":142,"story":4,"summary":"The wife tells the fiancé that the girl is always difficult; he says they never understood her and grows cold, which relieves the husband.","predicament":"Someone who speaks an honest warning is rebuffed as disloyal, and finds the result a relief."},
|
||||
{"chunk":143,"story":4,"summary":"The girl turns hysterical before the wedding and threatens to break it off; the husband frets over every possible mishap until the groom arrives late.","predicament":"Someone waits through a nerve-racking final stretch, fearing any accident could undo the outcome they need."},
|
||||
{"chunk":144,"story":4,"summary":"The couple leave; alone together at last, the husband and wife draw close and go out to dinner.","predicament":"Someone who has endured a long strain alongside a partner finds it has finally brought them together."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
|
||||
[
|
||||
{"chunk":145,"story":5,"summary":"A husband gives a fashionable talk arguing that faithfulness to oneself outranks marriage vows; his wife notes that he has recently begun preaching publicly what he used to keep private.","predicament":"Someone watches their partner suddenly start proclaiming in public views they once kept carefully private."},
|
||||
{"chunk":146,"story":5,"summary":"The hosts are a couple who trade on an artistic reputation and recruit daring speakers to keep their gatherings fashionable.","predicament":"Someone keeps up a social position by borrowing other people's boldness."},
|
||||
{"chunk":147,"story":5,"summary":"The wife, who once urged these views on him, now finds them vulgarised, and resents the hosts' young daughter hearing such talk.","predicament":"Someone who once pushed a daring idea is uneasy now it is being preached, and looks for someone to blame."},
|
||||
{"chunk":148,"story":5,"summary":"The young woman asks the wife whether she believes it all; the wife blushes and says the girl doesn't understand.","predicament":"Someone is asked point-blank whether they still believe what they once championed, and cannot answer honestly."},
|
||||
{"chunk":149,"story":5,"summary":"The wife sees her husband absorbed in the young woman; walking home, he says he spoke publicly to please her, and she asks him to stop.","predicament":"Someone asks their partner to stop something the partner says they began only to please them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":150,"story":5,"summary":"He is solicitous, but that evening presses her to explain her objection, which she cannot.","predicament":"Someone is asked to justify a feeling they cannot put into words."},
|
||||
{"chunk":151,"story":5,"summary":"Looking round their home, she feels suddenly estranged; he asks whether she no longer believes the ideas their marriage was founded on.","predicament":"Someone is challenged by their partner over whether they still hold to the terms of their bond."},
|
||||
{"chunk":152,"story":5,"summary":"She insists she still believes, but says public talk suits only certain audiences; he reminds her they met in just such a set, and she names the young woman.","predicament":"Someone who has quietly changed their mind argues around it rather than admit it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":153,"story":5,"summary":"He defends the young woman's independence of mind and admits she interests him.","predicament":"Someone hears their partner openly confess an interest in someone else."},
|
||||
{"chunk":154,"story":5,"summary":"The wife's earlier divorce was accepted by everyone; her first husband was thought impossible, and remarrying a poorer man made her look disinterested.","predicament":"Someone who once left a partner was praised for it, and never had to count the cost."},
|
||||
{"chunk":155,"story":5,"summary":"She recalls her first husband as a dull, self-absorbed man who shaped everything around his own needs.","predicament":"Someone looks back on a partner who stifled them, and half wonders whether they judged fairly."},
|
||||
{"chunk":156,"story":5,"summary":"She remembers his mute bewilderment when she left, and her conviction that a marriage kept up out of duty is a crime.","predicament":"Someone who once escaped a stifling bond is haunted by the hurt they left behind."},
|
||||
{"chunk":157,"story":5,"summary":"She met her second husband in the heat of her revolt; he shared her views, and they agreed either could leave when love ended.","predicament":"Someone enters a new commitment on the promise that either may walk away freely."},
|
||||
{"chunk":158,"story":5,"summary":"Ten years of happiness have made her possessive; she now feels their compact could not apply to them, and takes a nerve tonic.","predicament":"Someone finds that the freedom they insisted on would destroy them if used against them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":159,"story":5,"summary":"Her husband is unusually gentle, which frightens her; when he plans to continue the talks she reminds him she objected.","predicament":"Someone reads a partner's new kindness as a sign of bad news and presses for the truth."},
|
||||
{"chunk":160,"story":5,"summary":"She says she hates hearing him say spouses may leave when tired; he reminds her that was her own reason for leaving her first husband.","predicament":"Someone who once used a principle for their own ends has it turned against them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":161,"story":5,"summary":"He accuses her of dropping the doctrine once it had served her, then claims her promise to release him; she says she will not go back on it.","predicament":"Someone is held to a promise they made when they never thought it would be used against them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":162,"story":5,"summary":"She guesses he means to marry the young woman, wishes him luck, and is left alone, feeling her home is no longer hers.","predicament":"Someone keeps their word with dignity and is left with nothing they thought was theirs."},
|
||||
{"chunk":163,"story":5,"summary":"Hours pass in stupor; every familiar object in the house mocks her.","predicament":"Someone whose life has broken apart finds everything around them unchanged and unbearable."},
|
||||
{"chunk":164,"story":5,"summary":"She considers fighting through the law or begging, but sees she is trapped by the code she herself made.","predicament":"Someone looks for a way to fight a loss and realises the rules trapping them are their own."},
|
||||
{"chunk":165,"story":5,"summary":"She goes to warn the young woman, finds her out, and wanders the streets.","predicament":"Someone rushes to warn a rival and, finding them gone, is left with nowhere to go."},
|
||||
{"chunk":166,"story":5,"summary":"Faint, she takes bitter tea in a shabby eating-house and feels her mind clear.","predicament":"Someone at the end of their strength stops in a strange place to steady themselves."},
|
||||
{"chunk":167,"story":5,"summary":"She sees that warning the girl would have been humiliating, and walks the darkening streets not knowing what to do.","predicament":"Someone gives up a rash plan and is left with no idea what to do next."},
|
||||
{"chunk":168,"story":5,"summary":"She finds herself outside her first husband's house, watches him go in, and on impulse rings the bell.","predicament":"Someone turns up, unannounced, at the door of a person they once wronged."},
|
||||
{"chunk":169,"story":5,"summary":"She talks her way past the footman; her first husband, shocked, receives her to avoid a scene.","predicament":"Someone forces a meeting with a former partner who would rather not see them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":170,"story":5,"summary":"In the unchanged room he coldly suggests she speak through lawyers; she says lawyers cannot help this time.","predicament":"Someone asks a former partner for a hearing and is told to go through proper channels."},
|
||||
{"chunk":171,"story":5,"summary":"He braces as if for a request for money; she tells him her husband has left her because he tired of her.","predicament":"Someone confesses their humiliation to the very person who once suffered the same thing at their hands."},
|
||||
{"chunk":172,"story":5,"summary":"He says she need not grant a divorce; she replies that he did not have to either, and asks whether he, too, never understood.","predicament":"Someone who once inflicted a hurt now feels it themselves, and needs the person they hurt to know it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":173,"story":5,"summary":"He admits he never understood; she asks his forgiveness, shakes his hand, and leaves before he can stop her.","predicament":"Someone seeks forgiveness from a person they wronged, and leaves before anything more can be said."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||
[
|
||||
{"chunk":174,"story":6,"summary":"A young assistant hired to catalogue an elderly former adventurer's papers is told to get him to talk about his past, which he never discusses.","predicament":"Someone hired for one task is quietly asked to draw out secrets their employer keeps to himself."},
|
||||
{"chunk":175,"story":6,"summary":"Going blind, the old man begins to talk of the underground struggle for independence, where prisoners died rather than betray their friends.","predicament":"Someone at the end of their working life looks back on a time when loyalty was tested under threat of death."},
|
||||
{"chunk":176,"story":6,"summary":"Asked for the bravest thing a woman ever did, he says it was provoked by an act of his own he is not proud of.","predicament":"Someone finally admits a past act they are ashamed of, now that those it touched are dead."},
|
||||
{"chunk":177,"story":6,"summary":"As a young officer he was sent to an occupied city to help its secret resistance, which carried on its social life in defiance.","predicament":"Someone sent to aid a secret cause enjoys the danger and the society it brings."},
|
||||
{"chunk":178,"story":6,"summary":"He fell in love with a widowed noblewoman prominent in the cause, whose family had been ruined by a ruler's betrayal of his own conspirators.","predicament":"Someone falls for a person devoted to a cause, whose family history is steeped in betrayal."},
|
||||
{"chunk":179,"story":6,"summary":"Her teenage brother was hanged on flimsy evidence after the failed conspiracy, and her mother never recovered.","predicament":"Someone's family is broken by an innocent relative's execution on the flimsiest pretext."},
|
||||
{"chunk":180,"story":6,"summary":"The daughter, rejecting her mother's brooding, threw herself into the cause after an unhappy marriage and worked for it with great discretion.","predicament":"Someone channels grief and an unhappy marriage into secret work for a cause."},
|
||||
{"chunk":181,"story":6,"summary":"Mother and daughter both work for the cause, the mother for vengeance and the daughter for the country, and the daughter reveres her mother's suffering.","predicament":"Someone supports a grieving parent whose motives for the shared cause are narrower than their own."},
|
||||
{"chunk":182,"story":6,"summary":"The daughter says her mother is tormented that her son alone left no farewell letter; all her bribes to find one failed.","predicament":"Someone longs to bring a grieving parent the one comfort they cannot obtain."},
|
||||
{"chunk":183,"story":6,"summary":"The narrator understands that last letters from the executed were treasured and shared, and that the mother's lack of one isolates her.","predicament":"Someone grieving is shut out of the comfort every other bereaved family shares."},
|
||||
{"chunk":184,"story":6,"summary":"She loved another, a leading patriot devoted only to the cause, whose father had been physician to the prisons where her brother died.","predicament":"Someone loves a person who loves only their cause, and a rival stands between them and their own hopes."},
|
||||
{"chunk":185,"story":6,"summary":"The patriot conspired safely under cover of his loyal father's position; she shared his caution and hid fugitives for him.","predicament":"Someone plays a double life for years, their loyalty hidden behind a respectable front."},
|
||||
{"chunk":186,"story":6,"summary":"The narrator, jealous, accused her of leading him on and sneered at her hero; they parted in anger.","predicament":"Someone rejected for a rival lashes out at the person they want, and loses them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":187,"story":6,"summary":"After the city rises and is freed, the wounded narrator, sulking, goes to help the new government sort the fallen ruler's archives.","predicament":"Someone who has quarrelled with the person they love takes on a new task rather than make the first move."},
|
||||
{"chunk":188,"story":6,"summary":"In the archives he finds the hanged boy's farewell letter, marked as handed to the warder by his rival.","predicament":"Someone stumbles on proof that could destroy a rival and feels the power it gives them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":189,"story":6,"summary":"He reasons that the rival must have surrendered the letter to curry favour, and so must be a traitor.","predicament":"Someone tempted by jealousy convinces themselves that a rival's old act proves him a traitor."},
|
||||
{"chunk":190,"story":6,"summary":"Ignoring the rival's long record of courage, the narrator rushes back in anger to the woman he loves.","predicament":"Someone lets jealousy override their judgement and hurries to use damaging evidence."},
|
||||
{"chunk":191,"story":6,"summary":"He calculates that the letter, bound to be published at a coming commemoration, would ruin the rival, and cannot honourably withhold it.","predicament":"Someone holds evidence they cannot honourably keep back, and knows handing it over will destroy a rival."},
|
||||
{"chunk":192,"story":6,"summary":"He gives her the letter; overjoyed, she kisses his hands, thinking of the comfort it will bring her mother.","predicament":"Someone delivers joyful news knowing that a bitter revelation comes attached to it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":193,"story":6,"summary":"He tells her who gave up the letter; she coolly asks for proof and does not cry out against the man she loves.","predicament":"Someone confronts another with damning evidence about the person they love, and meets calm disbelief."},
|
||||
{"chunk":194,"story":6,"summary":"She asks him on his honour whether the note could be a later forgery; he says no, and she accepts the evidence without condemning her hero.","predicament":"Someone asks a rival for an honest answer that may condemn the person they trust, and gets it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":195,"story":6,"summary":"He presses the point that her hero betrayed a friend; she replies that she understands, and that he could not have done otherwise.","predicament":"Someone pushes another to condemn a person they love, and is told the act was justified."},
|
||||
{"chunk":196,"story":6,"summary":"She argues that bringing the letter would have endangered the cause, so the boy's friend rightly put the country first.","predicament":"Someone defends a painful betrayal as a necessary sacrifice for a greater cause."},
|
||||
{"chunk":197,"story":6,"summary":"Convinced despite himself, he asks why the hero never told her; she asks him to keep the letter secret from everyone, even her mother.","predicament":"Someone is asked to keep a secret that will deny a grieving person the comfort they long for."},
|
||||
{"chunk":198,"story":6,"summary":"She burns the letter rather than risk her mother's anger ruining the hero, and says she can never tell him what she has done for him.","predicament":"Someone gives up the thing their own family most needs to protect a person who will never know."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
|
||||
[
|
||||
{"chunk":199,"story":7,"summary":"A newly engaged man drops in on the woman he has long kept as an intimate friend, meaning to talk over her meeting with his fiancée.","predicament":"Someone who has moved on to a new commitment returns to an old intimate as if nothing had changed."},
|
||||
{"chunk":200,"story":7,"summary":"He prides himself on an art of evading declared feeling, having once been burdened by an avowed love.","predicament":"Someone who once regretted committing themselves now takes pleasure in never committing to anyone."},
|
||||
{"chunk":201,"story":7,"summary":"He trained his friend over years to hide her feelings and follow his lead in every evasion.","predicament":"Someone has shaped another person to fit their convenience and admires the result."},
|
||||
{"chunk":202,"story":7,"summary":"She received his fiancée perfectly; he regrets having announced the engagement by letter, as if he had doubted her.","predicament":"Someone realises that a cautious move of theirs betrayed distrust of a person who deserved better."},
|
||||
{"chunk":203,"story":7,"summary":"Missing his candid fiancée, he calls to talk about her and delights in the fresh feelings she stirs in him.","predicament":"Someone newly in love seeks out an old confidant to share it, without thinking what it costs them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":204,"story":7,"summary":"His friend is startled to see him and speaks of this as a last visit; he insists nothing has changed.","predicament":"Someone expects an old arrangement to continue and is told it is ending."},
|
||||
{"chunk":205,"story":7,"summary":"She reveals that his fiancée came to see her a second time that morning, which he did not know.","predicament":"Someone learns that the person they are about to marry went behind their back to an old intimate."},
|
||||
{"chunk":206,"story":7,"summary":"She pities him and hints that a letter may await him; the fiancée came to find out whether anything had happened between them.","predicament":"Someone discovers their fiancée has been asking about their past with another person."},
|
||||
{"chunk":207,"story":7,"summary":"He protests that a man's past is his own; she says the fiancée objects even to a mere friendship, and came to see whether he was really free.","predicament":"Someone who thought their past was their own business finds it standing in the way of their future."},
|
||||
{"chunk":208,"story":7,"summary":"Told there had never been an affair, the fiancée was more disturbed, not less: the offence was that nothing had happened.","predicament":"Someone who thought themselves innocent learns the harm lay in what they withheld."},
|
||||
{"chunk":209,"story":7,"summary":"The friend confesses she loved him all along; the fiancée saw that he used her and cast her aside, and despised them both.","predicament":"Someone is made to see, through an outsider's eyes, how they have used another person's devotion."},
|
||||
{"chunk":210,"story":7,"summary":"The fiancée wants a man capable of love, not reservations; the friend offers to say she lied, and let him claim a past with her.","predicament":"Someone who has been used offers to sacrifice their own name to save the person who used them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":211,"story":7,"summary":"Moved, he refuses her sacrifice, saying it would only harm his fiancée; she tells him the fiancée has surely recalled her letter.","predicament":"Someone offered an easy escape at another's expense refuses it, and learns they may not need one."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||
[
|
||||
{"chunk":212,"story":8,"summary":"A mother devoted to her perfect son senses from his walk that he is coming home to tell her something.","predicament":"Someone whose whole life centres on one person senses that person is in trouble and waits to be told."},
|
||||
{"chunk":213,"story":8,"summary":"In her exquisite house the son slumps by the fire, defeated, and she feels suddenly a stranger to him.","predicament":"Someone sees a person they know intimately in an unfamiliar state and feels shut out."},
|
||||
{"chunk":214,"story":8,"summary":"The son says the girl he loves has refused him on principle, because he owns a scandalous newspaper.","predicament":"Someone is turned down by the person they love because of the source of their income."},
|
||||
{"chunk":215,"story":8,"summary":"The girl wants him to give up the paper or run it honestly at a loss; he mocks her fashionable ethics.","predicament":"Someone is asked to give up their livelihood as the price of being loved."},
|
||||
{"chunk":216,"story":8,"summary":"Mother and son agree one cannot change oneself; the girl cites the mother's own example, and the mother notes the girl's family has never called on her.","predicament":"Someone is held up as an example in an argument they would rather not be drawn into."},
|
||||
{"chunk":217,"story":8,"summary":"The girl admires the mother's goodness; the mother, angry, is told her son is not asking her to make the girl love him.","predicament":"Someone resents a person who has hurt their child, and is asked not to show it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":218,"story":8,"summary":"The son asks his mother to visit the girl and show her that the paper has never touched her life.","predicament":"Someone is asked by the person they love most to plead a case they privately doubt."},
|
||||
{"chunk":219,"story":8,"summary":"The mother calls at the girl's plain, comfortless home and reads failure in the furniture.","predicament":"Someone goes to plead on another's behalf in a place where they feel they have no footing."},
|
||||
{"chunk":220,"story":8,"summary":"The girl is immovable; she says it is the mother's own beautiful example that confirms her refusal.","predicament":"Someone tries to persuade a person of firm principle, and their own example is used against them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":221,"story":8,"summary":"The mother argues that the girl is sacrificing her son to an idea; the girl says she is sacrificing herself.","predicament":"Someone argues with a young person who insists on giving up happiness for a principle."},
|
||||
{"chunk":222,"story":8,"summary":"The mother pleads that life is made of compromises and love outweighs theories; the girl says that is exactly why she cannot.","predicament":"Someone urges a younger person to compromise, and is told their plea proves the danger."},
|
||||
{"chunk":223,"story":8,"summary":"Six months later the son has buried his grief in the paper, and the mother seeks refuge in a gallery of paintings.","predicament":"Someone who cannot help a suffering child looks for solace of their own."},
|
||||
{"chunk":224,"story":8,"summary":"The unspoken subject has driven mother and son apart; in the gallery she meets the girl.","predicament":"Someone cut off from a loved one by an unspoken hurt comes face to face with its cause."},
|
||||
{"chunk":225,"story":8,"summary":"The girl looks worn and unhappy; the mother offers her a lift, is refused, and turns away.","predicament":"Someone reaches out to a former adversary and is coldly rebuffed."},
|
||||
{"chunk":226,"story":8,"summary":"The girl confesses she followed the mother there, has been unhappy, and now believes the mother was right; she asks whether the son still cares.","predicament":"Someone who once refused an offer comes back to say they have changed their mind, and asks if it still stands."},
|
||||
{"chunk":227,"story":8,"summary":"The mother says she too has suffered, and now admits the girl was right and she was wrong.","predicament":"Someone who argued for a compromise now confesses they knew all along it was wrong."},
|
||||
{"chunk":228,"story":8,"summary":"The girl believes love alone could change the son; the mother says she once said the same, before marrying his father.","predicament":"Someone about to make a hopeful sacrifice is told by an older person that they made the same one and regret it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":229,"story":8,"summary":"The mother says she speaks because the girl is as alive as she once was, and she cannot watch her be walled up.","predicament":"Someone breaks a lifetime's silence to save a younger person from their own fate."},
|
||||
{"chunk":230,"story":8,"summary":"She married without knowing what the paper was, enjoyed its money, then learned it traded in exposing private scandal.","predicament":"Someone discovers that the comfort they have enjoyed is paid for by something shameful."},
|
||||
{"chunk":231,"story":8,"summary":"The girl tries to stop her from going on.","predicament":"Someone watching another confess something painful wants to spare them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":232,"story":8,"summary":"Her husband promised to sell the paper in time, but her delicate son's life depended on the money, and she sank deeper with each compromise.","predicament":"Someone who meant to refuse tainted money comes to depend on it to save a person they love."},
|
||||
{"chunk":233,"story":8,"summary":"She tried to purify the money through charity and to hide the paper from her son behind beauty; on her husband's death she hoped the son would sell it.","predicament":"Someone who compromised long ago pins their hope of release on the next generation."},
|
||||
{"chunk":234,"story":8,"summary":"At twenty-one the son refused to sell, loving the power the paper gave; she saw he was what her concessions had made him.","predicament":"Someone finds that the person they raised has embraced the very thing they wanted to escape."},
|
||||
{"chunk":235,"story":8,"summary":"She gave up the struggle and learned to look only at the side of her son that was hers.","predicament":"Someone makes peace with a loved one's flaw by refusing to look at it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":236,"story":8,"summary":"She warns that the son's love would never change him and that the girl would slowly die as she did; she asks what to tell him, and leaves.","predicament":"Someone lays bare their own ruin to warn another, then leaves them to make the choice alone."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
|
||||
[
|
||||
{"chunk":237,"story":9,"summary":"An old man's tale begins with his younger self, just of age, sighting a fabled foreign city from his father's merchant ship.","predicament":"Someone young and newly free arrives in a place they have dreamed of all their life."},
|
||||
{"chunk":238,"story":9,"summary":"The youth recalls a childhood print of the city's crowded square, full of foreigners, performers and pickpockets.","predicament":"Someone brings a child's romantic picture of a place to the real thing."},
|
||||
{"chunk":239,"story":9,"summary":"The city has always stood in his mind for a place of magic where the rules of his strict upbringing do not hold.","predicament":"Someone raised under strict rules longs for a place where the rules do not apply."},
|
||||
{"chunk":240,"story":9,"summary":"His tutor insists on finishing a sermon before going ashore; the youth slips away alone.","predicament":"Someone under a guardian's supervision slips away to do what they want."},
|
||||
{"chunk":241,"story":9,"summary":"In the crowded square he overpays a pedlar through ignorance of the coinage, and a pleasant English-speaking stranger offers help.","predicament":"Someone who shows they are a naive newcomer with money is approached by a helpful stranger."},
|
||||
{"chunk":242,"story":9,"summary":"The friendly stranger, calling himself a count, shows him the town and points out its great personages in their odd costumes.","predicament":"Someone new in a strange place gratefully accepts a guide whose credentials they cannot check."},
|
||||
{"chunk":243,"story":9,"summary":"Bound to return by sunset, he gives the count a costly gift, is led into the cathedral, and meets a pretty girl whose dress catches on his sword.","predicament":"Someone who has promised to be back on time lets a new acquaintance talk them into one more detour."},
|
||||
{"chunk":244,"story":9,"summary":"The count names her as a senator's daughter; a page slips the youth a note begging his help, and an officer seizes him.","predicament":"Someone receives a secret appeal for help and is immediately caught holding it."},
|
||||
{"chunk":245,"story":9,"summary":"The count warns him the officer serves the dreaded council and that the letter compromises a great family, and arranges for him to be taken privately to the father.","predicament":"Someone accused of an offence they do not understand is steered by a friend towards a private settlement."},
|
||||
{"chunk":246,"story":9,"summary":"He asks to send word to his ship and is refused; the count urges him not to resist.","predicament":"Someone being led away is denied the chance to tell anyone where they are."},
|
||||
{"chunk":247,"story":9,"summary":"He breaks free and runs, is cornered in an alley, and is pulled through a gate by a servant girl.","predicament":"Someone who has escaped their captors is cornered, and must trust an unknown rescuer."},
|
||||
{"chunk":248,"story":9,"summary":"He is led to the girl from the cathedral, who seems dismayed to see him; the page was her maid in disguise.","predicament":"Someone who answered a call for help is told they were not the one it was meant for."},
|
||||
{"chunk":249,"story":9,"summary":"She says the letter was meant for an ambassador to save her from a forced marriage; her father is heard coming.","predicament":"Someone learns they have been caught up in another person's desperate plan by mistake."},
|
||||
{"chunk":250,"story":9,"summary":"The father and his noble friends burst in with drawn swords; the count arrives and mediates, and says the youth is in great trouble.","predicament":"Someone is confronted by an angry family and depends on a go-between who speaks for them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":251,"story":9,"summary":"He is accused of secret correspondence with the girl, now repudiated by her betrothed; he refuses to hide behind her word.","predicament":"Someone accused of compromising another must defend themselves without exposing them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":252,"story":9,"summary":"Asked to clear her by showing the letter, he sees her silently beg him not to.","predicament":"Someone could clear themselves by producing evidence, but the person it would expose begs them not to."},
|
||||
{"chunk":253,"story":9,"summary":"He refuses to show his private letters; the count says honour now demands he marry the girl.","predicament":"Someone who keeps another's secret is told the price is a lifelong obligation."},
|
||||
{"chunk":254,"story":9,"summary":"He is told he must marry her within the hour, and is locked in with her while the chaplain is fetched.","predicament":"Someone is trapped and given an hour before a forced commitment they never sought."},
|
||||
{"chunk":255,"story":9,"summary":"She weeps with shame, thanks him for keeping her secret, and says her father is forcing her to marry a brute.","predicament":"Someone trapped alongside another hears their tale of being forced into a match and wants to save them."},
|
||||
{"chunk":256,"story":9,"summary":"She says she cannot be saved but he can, if he will do as she says without looking at her.","predicament":"Someone is offered a way out, provided they accept terms they will not like."},
|
||||
{"chunk":257,"story":9,"summary":"She explains that everyone involved can be bought, and begs him to offer a ransom to go free.","predicament":"Someone learns they can buy their way out of a trap, and that is exactly what the trap was for."},
|
||||
{"chunk":258,"story":9,"summary":"He offers to marry her himself instead; she refuses and insists she must marry the other man.","predicament":"Someone offers themselves to rescue another and is refused."},
|
||||
{"chunk":259,"story":9,"summary":"He declares his love; she kisses him, takes a trinket from his watch-chain, and laughs strangely that she will get none of the money.","predicament":"Someone who has fallen for another begins to sense they are being played."},
|
||||
{"chunk":260,"story":9,"summary":"He realises the whole thing was a swindle; she admits it but says her love was real, just as his ship's captain and tutor arrive with the police.","predicament":"Someone discovers they were the mark in a confidence trick just as rescue arrives."},
|
||||
{"chunk":261,"story":9,"summary":"The captain exposes the tricksters as known confidence men, softens towards the girl, and takes the youth back to his ship.","predicament":"Someone who has been swindled is rescued by their elders and must walk away from a person they had fallen for."}
|
||||
]
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user