{"product_id":"2940013168794","title":"THE GAMBLER","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn eight-mile drive over rain-washed Irish roads in the quick-falling\u003cbr\u003edust of autumn is an experience trying to the patience, even to the\u003cbr\u003etemper, of the average Saxon. Yet James Milbanke made neither comment\u003cbr\u003enor objection as mile after mile of roadway spun away like a ribbon\u003cbr\u003ebehind him, as the mud rose in showers from the wheels of the\u003cbr\u003eold-fashioned trap in which he sat, and the half-trained mare between\u003cbr\u003ethe shafts swerved now to the right, now to the left--her nervous\u003cbr\u003eglance caught by the spectral shapes of the blackthorn hedges or the\u003cbr\u003emotionless forms of the wayside donkeys, lying asleep in the ditches.\u003cbr\u003ePerhaps this stoicism was the outcome of an innate power to endure;\u003cbr\u003eperhaps it was a merely negative quality, illustrating the lack of that\u003cbr\u003edoubtful blessing, imagination. But whatever its origin, it stood him\u003cbr\u003ein good stead as he covered the long stretch of flat country that links\u003cbr\u003ethe south-eastern seaport of Muskeere with the remote fishing village\u003cbr\u003eof Carrigmore and its outlying district of Orristown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis outlook upon Ireland, like his outlook upon life, was untinged by\u003cbr\u003ehumour. He had seen no ground for amusement in the fact that he had\u003cbr\u003ebeen the only passenger to alight from the train at the Muskeere\u003cbr\u003eterminus, and consequently no ground for loneliness in the sight of the\u003cbr\u003esolitary vehicle, dimly silhouetted against the murky sky, that had\u003cbr\u003eawaited his coming. The ludicrous points of the scene: the primitive\u003cbr\u003erailway station with its insufficient flickering lights, its little\u003cbr\u003eknot of inquisitive idlers, its one porter--slovenly, amiable,\u003cbr\u003eincorrigibly lazy--all contributing the unconscious background to his\u003cbr\u003eown neat, conventional, totally alien personality, had left him\u003cbr\u003euntouched.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147502207216,"sku":"2940013168794","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013168794_p0.jpg?v=1763577488","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013168794","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}