{"product_id":"2940013086388","title":"Max","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA night journey is essentially a thing of possibilities. To those who\u003cbr\u003ecount it as mere transit, mere linking of experiences, it is, of course,\u003cbr\u003ea commonplace; but to the imaginative, who by gift divine see a picture\u003cbr\u003ein every cloud, a story behind every shadow, it suggests\u003cbr\u003eromance--romance in the very making.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuch a vessel of inspiration was the powerful north express as it\u003cbr\u003ethundered over the sleeping plains of Germany and France on its night\u003cbr\u003ejourney from Cologne to Paris. A thing of possibilities indeed, with its\u003cbr\u003evarying human freight--stolid Teutons, hard-headed Scandinavians, Slavs\u003cbr\u003ewhom expediency or caprice had forced to descend upon Paris across the\u003cbr\u003esea of ice. It was the month of January, and an unlikely and unlovely\u003cbr\u003enight for long and arduous travel. There were few pleasure-passengers on\u003cbr\u003ethe express, and if one could have looked through the carriage windows,\u003cbr\u003eblurred with damp mist, one would have seen upon almost every face the\u003cbr\u003elook--resigned or resolute--of those who fare forth by necessity rather\u003cbr\u003ethan by choice. In the sleeping-cars all the berths were occupied, but\u003cbr\u003ehere and them throughout the length of the train an occasional traveller\u003cbr\u003eslept on the seat of his carriage, wrapped in coats and rugs, while in\u003cbr\u003ethe dining-saloon a couple of sleepy waiters lurched to and fro in\u003cbr\u003eattendance upon a party of three men whose energy precluded the thought\u003cbr\u003eof wasting even the night hours and who were playing cards at one of the\u003cbr\u003esmall tables. Up and down the whole overheated, swaying train there was\u003cbr\u003ethe suggestion of mystery, of contrast and effect, and the twinkling\u003cbr\u003eeyes of the electric lamps seemed to wink from behind their drawn hoods\u003cbr\u003eas though they, worldly wise and watchful, saw the individuality--the\u003cbr\u003einevitable story--behind the drowsy units who sat or lay or lounged\u003cbr\u003eunguarded beneath them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn one carriage, the fifth or sixth from the thundering engine, these\u003cbr\u003elights winked and even laughed one to the other each time the train\u003cbr\u003elurched over the points, and the dark, shrouding hoods quivered,\u003cbr\u003eallowing a glimpse at the occupant of the compartment.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068641984752,"sku":"2940013086388","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013086388_p0.jpg?v=1763576766","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013086388","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}