{"product_id":"2940013289239","title":"COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET","description":"CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSquire Thorndyke, of the Manor House of Crawley, was, on the 1st of\u003cbr\u003eSeptember; 1782, walking up and down the little terrace in front of the\u003cbr\u003equaint old house in an unusually disturbed mood. He was a man of forty\u003cbr\u003ethree or four, stoutly and strongly built, and inclined to be portly.\u003cbr\u003eSave the loss of his wife four years before, there had been but little\u003cbr\u003eto ruffle the easy tenor of his life. A younger son, he had, at his\u003cbr\u003emother's death, when he was three and twenty, come in for the small\u003cbr\u003eestate at Crawley, which had been her jointure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor ten years he had led a life resembling that of most of his\u003cbr\u003eneighbors; he had hunted and shot, been a regular attendant at any\u003cbr\u003emain of cocks that was fought within fifteen miles of Crawley, had\u003cbr\u003eoccasionally been up to London for a week or two to see the gay doings\u003cbr\u003ethere. Of an evening he had generally gone down to the inn, where he\u003cbr\u003etalked over, with two or three of his own condition and a few of the\u003cbr\u003ebetter class of farmers, the news of the day, the war with the French,\u003cbr\u003ethe troubles in Scotland, the alarming march of the Young Pretender, and\u003cbr\u003ehis defeat at Culloden--with no very keen interest in the result, for\u003cbr\u003ethe Southern gentry and yeomen, unlike those in the North, had no strong\u003cbr\u003eleanings either way. They had a dull dislike for Hanoverian George, but\u003cbr\u003eno great love for the exiled Stuarts, whose patron, the King of France,\u003cbr\u003ewas an enemy of England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore often, however, their thoughts turned upon local topics--the\u003cbr\u003eholding up of the coach of Sir James Harris or Squire Hamilton by\u003cbr\u003ehighwaymen; the affray between the French smugglers and the Revenue men\u003cbr\u003enear Selsea Bill or Shoreham; the delinquencies of the poaching gangs;\u003cbr\u003ethe heaviness of the taxes, and the price of corn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the age of thirty-three Squire Thorndyke married the daughter of\u003cbr\u003ea neighboring landowner; a son was born and three years later Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eThorndyke died. Since then the Squire had led a more retired life; he\u003cbr\u003estill went down to smoke his pipe at the inn parlor, but he gave up his\u003cbr\u003evisits to town; and cock fights, and even bull baiting, were no longer\u003cbr\u003eattractions to him. He was known as a good landlord to the three or four\u003cbr\u003efarmers who held land under him; was respected and liked in the village,\u003cbr\u003ewhere he was always ready to assist in cases of real distress; was of an\u003cbr\u003eeasygoing disposition and on good terms with all his neighbors.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47169170211056,"sku":"2940013289239","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013289239_p0.jpg?v=1763579410","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013289239","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}