  We report the results of the Chandra ACIS-S observations of the elliptical
galaxy NGC 821, which harbors a supermassive nuclear black hole (of 3.5x10^7
solar masses), but does not show sign of AGN activity. A small, 8.5" long (~1
kpc at the galaxy's distance of 23 Mpc), S-shaped, jet-like feature centered on
the nucleus is detected in the 38 ksec ACIS-S integrated exposure of this
region. The luminosity of this feature is L_X ~ 2.6 x 10^39 erg/s (0.3-10 keV),
and its spectrum is hard (described by a power-law of Gamma =
1.8^{+0.7}_{-0.6}; or by thermal emission with kT > 2 keV). We discuss two
possibilities for the origin of this feature: (1) a low-luminosity X-ray jet,
or (2) a hot shocked gas. In either case, it is a clear indication of nuclear
activity, detectable only in the X-ray band. Steady spherical accretion of the
mass losses from the central stellar cusp within the accretion radius, when
coupled to a high radiative efficiency, already provides a power source
exceeding the observed radiative losses from the nuclear region.
