{"product_id":"2940013321601","title":"THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE","description":"CHAPTER I: THE WAR OF THE SUCCESSION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He is an idle vagabond!\" the mayor of the good town of Southampton\u003cbr\u003esaid, in high wrath--\"a ne'er do well, and an insolent puppy; and as to\u003cbr\u003eyou, Mistress Alice, if I catch you exchanging words with him again, ay,\u003cbr\u003eor nodding to him, or looking as if in any way you were conscious of his\u003cbr\u003epresence, I will put you on bread and water, and will send you away for\u003cbr\u003esix months to the care of my sister Deborah, who will, I warrant me,\u003cbr\u003ebring you to your senses.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Mayor of Southampton must have been very angry indeed when he spoke\u003cbr\u003ein this way to his daughter Alice, who in most matters had her own\u003cbr\u003eway. Especially did it show that he was angry, since he so spoke in the\u003cbr\u003epresence of Mistress Anthony, his wife, who was accustomed to have a by\u003cbr\u003eno means unimportant share in any decision arrived at respecting family\u003cbr\u003ematters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was too wise a woman, however, to attempt to arrest the torrent\u003cbr\u003ein full flood, especially as it was a matter on which her husband had\u003cbr\u003ealready shown a very unusual determination to have his own way. She\u003cbr\u003etherefore continued to work in silence, and paid no attention to the\u003cbr\u003eappealing glance which her daughter, a girl of fourteen, cast toward\u003cbr\u003eher. But although she said nothing, her husband understood in her\u003cbr\u003esilence an unuttered protest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is no use your taking that scamp's part, Mary, in this matter. I am\u003cbr\u003edetermined to have my own way, and the townspeople know well that when\u003cbr\u003eRichard Anthony makes up his mind, nothing will move him.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I have had no opportunity to take his part, Richard,\" his wife said\u003cbr\u003equietly; \"you have been storming without interruption since you came in\u003cbr\u003efive minutes ago, and I have not uttered a single word.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But you agree with me, Mary--you cannot but agree with me--that it is\u003cbr\u003enothing short of a scandal for the daughter of the Mayor of Southampton\u003cbr\u003eto be talking to a penniless young rogue like that at the garden gate.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Alice should not have met him there,\" Mistress Anthony said; \"but\u003cbr\u003eseeing that she is only fourteen years old, and the boy only sixteen,\u003cbr\u003eand he her second cousin, I do not see that the matter is so very\u003cbr\u003eshocking.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In four more years, Mistress Anthony,\" the mayor said profoundly, \"he\u003cbr\u003ewill be twenty, and she will be eighteen.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"So I suppose, Richard; I am no great head at a figures, but even I can\u003cbr\u003ereckon that. But as at present they are only fourteen and sixteen, I\u003cbr\u003erepeat that I do not see that it matters--at least not so very much.\u003cbr\u003eAlice, do you go to your room, and remain there till I send for you.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe girl without a word rose and retired. In the reign of King William\u003cbr\u003ethe Third implicit obedience was expected of children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I think, Richard,\" Mrs. Anthony went on when the door closed behind her\u003cbr\u003edaughter, \"you are not acting quite with your usual wisdom in treating\u003cbr\u003ethis matter in so serious a light, and in putting ideas into the girl's\u003cbr\u003ehead which would probably never have entered there otherwise. Of course\u003cbr\u003eAlice is fond of Jack. It is only natural that she should be, seeing\u003cbr\u003ethat he is her second cousin, and that for two years they have lived\u003cbr\u003etogether under this roof.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I was a fool, Mistress Anthony,\" the mayor said angrily, \"ever to yield\u003cbr\u003eto your persuasions in that matter. It was unfortunate, of course, that\u003cbr\u003ethe boy's father, the husband of your Cousin Margaret, should have been\u003cbr\u003eturned out of his living by the Sectarians, as befell thousands of other\u003cbr\u003eclergymen besides him. It was still more unfortunate that when King\u003cbr\u003eCharles returned he did not get reinstated; but, after all, that was\u003cbr\u003eMargaret's business and not mine; and if she was fool enough to marry a\u003cbr\u003epauper, and he well nigh old enough to be her father--well, as I say, it\u003cbr\u003ewas no business of mine.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He was not a pauper, Richard, and you know it; and he made enough by\u003cbr\u003eteaching to keep him and Margaret comfortably till he broke down and\u003cbr\u003edied three years ago, and poor Margaret followed him to the grave a year\u003cbr\u003elater. He was a good man--in every way a good man.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Tut, tut! I am not saying he wasn't a good man. I am only saying that,\u003cbr\u003egood or bad, it was no business of mine; and then nothing will do but\u003cbr\u003eI must send for the boy and put him in my business. And a nice mess\u003cbr\u003ehe made of it--an idler, more careless apprentice, no cloth merchant,\u003cbr\u003eespecially one who stood well with his fellow citizens, and who was\u003cbr\u003eon the highway to becoming mayor of his native city, was ever crossed\u003cbr\u003ewith.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I think he was hardly as bad as that, Richard. I don't think you were\u003cbr\u003eever quite fair to the boy.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073684816112,"sku":"2940013321601","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013321601_p0.jpg?v=1763590994","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013321601","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}