{"product_id":"2940013117389","title":"THE PRISONER OF ZENDA","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     1  The Rassendylls--With a Word on the Elphbergs\u003cbr\u003e     2  Concerning the Colour of Men's Hair\u003cbr\u003e     3  A Merry Evening with a Distant Relative\u003cbr\u003e     4  The King Keeps his Appointment\u003cbr\u003e     5  The Adventures of an Understudy\u003cbr\u003e     6  The Secret of a Cellar\u003cbr\u003e     7  His Majesty Sleeps in Strelsau\u003cbr\u003e     8  A Fair Cousin and a Dark Brother\u003cbr\u003e     9  A New Use for a Tea-Table\u003cbr\u003e     10  A Great Chance for a Villain\u003cbr\u003e     11  Hunting a Very Big Boar\u003cbr\u003e     12  I Receive a Visitor and Bait a Hook\u003cbr\u003e     13  An Improvement on Jacob's Ladder\u003cbr\u003e     14  A Night Outside the Castle\u003cbr\u003e     15  I Talk with a Tempter\u003cbr\u003e     16  A Desperate Plan\u003cbr\u003e     17  Young Rupert's Midnight Diversions\u003cbr\u003e     18  The Forcing of the Trap\u003cbr\u003e     19  Face to Face in the Forest\u003cbr\u003e     20  The Prisoner and the King\u003cbr\u003e     21  If Love Were All!\u003cbr\u003e     22  Present, Past--and Future?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Rassendylls--With a Word on the Elphbergs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I wonder when in the world you're going to do anything, Rudolf?\" said\u003cbr\u003emy brother's wife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My dear Rose,\" I answered, laying down my egg-spoon, \"why in the world\u003cbr\u003eshould I do anything? My position is a comfortable one. I have an\u003cbr\u003eincome nearly sufficient for my wants (no one's income is ever quite\u003cbr\u003esufficient, you know), I enjoy an enviable social position: I am\u003cbr\u003ebrother to Lord Burlesdon, and brother-in-law to that charming lady, his\u003cbr\u003ecountess. Behold, it is enough!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You are nine-and-twenty,\" she observed, \"and you've done nothing but--\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Knock about? It is true. Our family doesn't need to do things.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis remark of mine rather annoyed Rose, for everybody knows (and\u003cbr\u003etherefore there can be no harm in referring to the fact) that, pretty\u003cbr\u003eand accomplished as she herself is, her family is hardly of the same\u003cbr\u003estanding as the Rassendylls. Besides her attractions, she possessed a\u003cbr\u003elarge fortune, and my brother Robert was wise enough not to mind about\u003cbr\u003eher ancestry. Ancestry is, in fact, a matter concerning which the next\u003cbr\u003eobservation of Rose's has some truth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Good families are generally worse than any others,\" she said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUpon this I stroked my hair: I knew quite well what she meant.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm so glad Robert's is black!\" she cried.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt this moment Robert (who rises at seven and works before breakfast)\u003cbr\u003ecame in. He glanced at his wife: her cheek was slightly flushed; he\u003cbr\u003epatted it caressingly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What's the matter, my dear?\" he asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"She objects to my doing nothing and having red hair,\" said I, in an\u003cbr\u003einjured tone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh! of course he can't help his hair,\" admitted Rose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It generally crops out once in a generation,\" said my brother. \"So does\u003cbr\u003ethe nose. Rudolf has got them both.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I wish they didn't crop out,\" said Rose, still flushed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I rather like them myself,\" said I, and, rising, I bowed to the\u003cbr\u003eportrait of Countess Amelia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy brother's wife uttered an exclamation of impatience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I wish you'd take that picture away, Robert,\" said she.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My dear!\" he cried.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Good heavens!\" I added.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Then it might be forgotten,\" she continued.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hardly--with Rudolf about,\" said Robert, shaking his head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Why should it be forgotten?\" I asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Rudolf!\" exclaimed my brother's wife, blushing very prettily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI laughed, and went on with my egg. At least I had shelved the question\u003cbr\u003eof what (if anything) I ought to do. And, by way of closing the\u003cbr\u003ediscussion--and also, I must admit, of exasperating my strict little\u003cbr\u003esister-in-law a trifle more--I observed:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I rather like being an Elphberg myself.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I read a story, I skip the explanations; yet the moment I begin to\u003cbr\u003ewrite one, I find that I must have an explanation. For it is manifest\u003cbr\u003ethat I must explain why my sister-in-law was vexed with my nose and\u003cbr\u003ehair, and why I ventured to call myself an Elphberg. For eminent as,\u003cbr\u003eI must protest, the Rassendylls have been for many generations, yet\u003cbr\u003eparticipation in their blood of course does not, at first sight, justify\u003cbr\u003ethe boast of a connection with the grander stock of the Elphbergs or\u003cbr\u003ea claim to be one of that Royal House. For what relationship is there\u003cbr\u003ebetween Ruritania and Burlesdon, between the Palace at Strelsau or the\u003cbr\u003eCastle of Zenda and Number 305 Park Lane, W.?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell then--and I must premise that I am going, perforce, to rake up the\u003cbr\u003every scandal which my dear Lady Burlesdon wishes forgotten--in the year\u003cbr\u003e1733, George II. sitting then on the throne, peace reigning for\u003cbr\u003ethe moment, and the King and the Prince of Wales being not yet at\u003cbr\u003eloggerheads, there came on a visit to the English Court a certain\u003cbr\u003eprince, who was afterwards known to history as Rudolf the Third of\u003cbr\u003eRuritania.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47173640225008,"sku":"2940013117389","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013117389_p0.jpg?v=1763577251","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013117389","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}