{"product_id":"2940013274938","title":"THE SHEIK","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Are you coming in to watch the dancing, Lady Conway?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I most decidedly am not. I thoroughly disapprove of the expedition of\u003cbr\u003ewhich this dance is the inauguration. I consider that even by\u003cbr\u003econtemplating such a tour alone into the desert with no chaperon or\u003cbr\u003eattendant of her own sex, with only native camel drivers and servants,\u003cbr\u003eDiana Mayo is behaving with a recklessness and impropriety that is\u003cbr\u003ecalculated to cast a slur not only on her own reputation, but also on\u003cbr\u003ethe prestige of her country. I blush to think of it. We English cannot\u003cbr\u003ebe too careful of our behavior abroad. No opportunity is slight enough\u003cbr\u003efor our continental neighbours to cast stones, and this opportunity is\u003cbr\u003every far from being slight. It is the maddest piece of unprincipled\u003cbr\u003efolly I have ever heard of.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, come, Lady Conway! It's not quite so bad as all that. It is\u003cbr\u003ecertainly unconventional and--er--probably not quite wise, but remember\u003cbr\u003eMiss Mayo's unusual upbringing----\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am not forgetting her unusual upbringing,\" interrupted Lady Conway.\u003cbr\u003e\"It has been deplorable. But nothing can excuse this scandalous\u003cbr\u003eescapade. I knew her mother years ago, and I took it upon myself to\u003cbr\u003eexpostulate both with Diana and her brother, but Sir Aubrey is hedged\u003cbr\u003earound with an egotistical complacency that would defy a pickaxe to\u003cbr\u003epenetrate. According to him a Mayo is beyond criticism, and his\u003cbr\u003esister's reputation her own to deal with. The girl herself seemed,\u003cbr\u003efrankly, not to understand the seriousness of her position, and was\u003cbr\u003every flippant and not a little rude. I wash my hands of the whole\u003cbr\u003eaffair, and will certainly not countenance to-night's entertainment by\u003cbr\u003eappearing at it. I have already warned the manager that if the noise is\u003cbr\u003ekept up beyond a reasonable hour I shall leave the hotel to-morrow.\"\u003cbr\u003eAnd, drawing her wrap around her with a little shudder, Lady Conway\u003cbr\u003estalked majestically across the wide verandah of the Biskra Hotel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe two men left standing by the open French window that led into the\u003cbr\u003ehotel ballroom looked at each other and smiled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Some peroration,\" said one with a marked American accent. \"That's the\u003cbr\u003eway scandal's made, I guess.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069903913200,"sku":"2940013274938","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013274938_p0.jpg?v=1763579246","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013274938","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}