{"product_id":"2940012757371","title":"Ruth","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e        I. The Dressmaker's Apprentice at Work\u003cbr\u003e       II. Ruth Goes to the Shire-Hall\u003cbr\u003e      III. Sunday at Mrs Mason's\u003cbr\u003e       IV. Treading in Perilous Places\u003cbr\u003e        V. In North Wales\u003cbr\u003e       VI. Troubles Gather About Ruth\u003cbr\u003e      VII. The Crisis--Watching and Waiting\u003cbr\u003e     VIII. Mrs Bellingham \"Does the Thing Handsomely\"\u003cbr\u003e       IX. The Storm-Spirit Subdued\u003cbr\u003e        X. A Note and the Answer\u003cbr\u003e       XI. Thurstan and Faith Benson\u003cbr\u003e      XII. Losing Sight of the Welsh Mountains\u003cbr\u003e     XIII. The Dissenting Minister's Household\u003cbr\u003e      XIV. Ruth's First Sunday at Eccleston\u003cbr\u003e       XV. Mother and Child\u003cbr\u003e      XVI. Sally Tells of Her Sweethearts, and Discourses\u003cbr\u003e           on the Duties of Life\u003cbr\u003e     XVII. Leonard's Christening\u003cbr\u003e    XVIII. Ruth Becomes a Governess in Mr Bradshaw's Family\u003cbr\u003e      XIX. After Five Years\u003cbr\u003e       XX. Jemima Refuses to Be Managed\u003cbr\u003e      XXI. Mr Farquhar's Attentions Transferred\u003cbr\u003e     XXII. The Liberal Candidate and His Precursor\u003cbr\u003e    XXIII. Recognition\u003cbr\u003e     XXIV. The Meeting on the Sands\u003cbr\u003e      XXV. Jemima Makes a Discovery\u003cbr\u003e     XXVI. Mr Bradshaw's Virtuous Indignation\u003cbr\u003e    XXVII. Preparing to Stand on the Truth\u003cbr\u003e   XXVIII. An Understanding Between Lovers\u003cbr\u003e     XXIX. Sally Takes Her Money Out of the Bank\u003cbr\u003e      XXX. The Forged Deed\u003cbr\u003e     XXXI. An Accident to the Dover Coach\u003cbr\u003e    XXXII. The Bradshaw Pew Again Occupied\u003cbr\u003e   XXXIII. A Mother to Be Proud Of\u003cbr\u003e    XXXIV. \"I Must Go and Nurse Mr Bellingham\"\u003cbr\u003e     XXXV. Out of Darkness into Light\u003cbr\u003e    XXXVI. The End\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   Drop, drop, slow tears!\u003cbr\u003e   And bathe those beauteous feet,\u003cbr\u003e   Which brought from heaven\u003cbr\u003e   The news and Prince of peace.\u003cbr\u003e   Cease not, wet eyes,\u003cbr\u003e   For mercy to entreat:\u003cbr\u003e   To cry for vengeance\u003cbr\u003e   Sin doth never cease.\u003cbr\u003e   In your deep floods\u003cbr\u003e   Drown all my faults and fears;\u003cbr\u003e   Nor let His eye\u003cbr\u003e   See sin, but through my tears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   _Phineas Fletcher_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Dressmaker's Apprentice at Work\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is an assize-town in one of the eastern counties which was much\u003cbr\u003edistinguished by the Tudor sovereigns, and, in consequence of their\u003cbr\u003efavour and protection, attained a degree of importance that surprises\u003cbr\u003ethe modern traveller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA hundred years ago its appearance was that of picturesque grandeur.\u003cbr\u003eThe old houses, which were the temporary residences of such of the\u003cbr\u003ecounty-families as contented themselves with the gaieties of a\u003cbr\u003eprovincial town, crowded the streets and gave them the irregular but\u003cbr\u003enoble appearance yet to be seen in the cities of Belgium. The sides\u003cbr\u003eof the streets had a quaint richness, from the effect of the gables,\u003cbr\u003eand the stacks of chimneys which cut against the blue sky above;\u003cbr\u003ewhile, if the eye fell lower down, the attention was arrested by all\u003cbr\u003ekinds of projections in the shape of balcony and oriel; and it was\u003cbr\u003eamusing to see the infinite variety of windows that had been crammed\u003cbr\u003einto the walls long before Mr Pitt's days of taxation. The streets\u003cbr\u003ebelow suffered from all these projections and advanced stories above;\u003cbr\u003ethey were dark, and ill-paved with large, round, jolting pebbles, and\u003cbr\u003ewith no side-path protected by kerb-stones; there were no lamp-posts\u003cbr\u003efor long winter nights; and no regard was paid to the wants of the\u003cbr\u003emiddle class, who neither drove about in coaches of their own, nor\u003cbr\u003ewere carried by their own men in their own sedans into the very\u003cbr\u003ehalls of their friends. The professional men and their wives, the\u003cbr\u003eshopkeepers and their spouses, and all such people, walked about at\u003cbr\u003econsiderable peril both night and day. The broad unwieldy carriages\u003cbr\u003ehemmed them up against the houses in the narrow streets. The\u003cbr\u003einhospitable houses projected their flights of steps almost into the\u003cbr\u003ecarriage-way, forcing pedestrians again into the danger they had\u003cbr\u003eavoided for twenty or thirty paces. Then, at night, the only light\u003cbr\u003ewas derived from the glaring, flaring oil-lamps hung above the doors\u003cbr\u003eof the more aristocratic mansions; just allowing space for the\u003cbr\u003epassers-by to become visible, before they again disappeared into the\u003cbr\u003edarkness, where it was no uncommon thing for robbers to be in waiting\u003cbr\u003efor their prey.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe traditions of those bygone times, even to the smallest social\u003cbr\u003eparticular, enable one to understand more clearly the circumstances\u003cbr\u003ewhich contributed to the formation of character. The daily life\u003cbr\u003einto which people are born, and into which they are absorbed before\u003cbr\u003ethey are well aware, forms chains which only one in a hundred has\u003cbr\u003emoral strength enough to despise, and to break when the right time\u003cbr\u003ecomes--when an inward necessity for independent individual action\u003cbr\u003earises, which is superior to all outward conventionalities.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081674047728,"sku":"2940012757371","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012757371_p0.jpg?v=1763572032","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012757371","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}