{"product_id":"2940013446977","title":"The White Gauntlet","description":"Volume One, Chapter I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA woman in a wood--encountered accidentally, and alone.  'Tis an\u003cbr\u003eencounter to challenge curiosity--even though she be but a gipsy, or a\u003cbr\u003epeasant girl gathering sticks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf a high-born dame, beautiful,--and, above all, bright-haired,--\u003cbr\u003ecuriosity is no longer the word; but admiration, involuntary,\u003cbr\u003eunrestrained--bordering upon adoration.  It is but the instinct of man's\u003cbr\u003eheart to worship the fairest object, upon which man's eye may rest; and\u003cbr\u003ethis is a beautiful woman, with bright hair, met in the middle of a\u003cbr\u003ewood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarion Wade possessed all the conditions to merit such exalted\u003cbr\u003eadmiration.  She was high-born, beautiful, and bright-haired.  She was\u003cbr\u003ealone in a wood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt did not detract from the interest of the situation, that she was\u003cbr\u003emounted on a white horse, carried a hawk on her hand, and was followed\u003cbr\u003eby a hound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was unaccompanied by human creature--hawk, hound, and horse being\u003cbr\u003eher only companions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt must have been her choice to be thus unattended.  Wishing it, the\u003cbr\u003edaughter of Sir Marmaduke Wade might have had for escort a score of\u003cbr\u003eretainers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAutumn was in the sky: and along with it a noon-day sun.  The golden\u003cbr\u003elight straggling through the leaves was reflected upon a field of blue,\u003cbr\u003ebrilliant as the canopy whence it came.  It was not the blue of the\u003cbr\u003ehyacinth gleaming in the forest glade, nor the modest violet that\u003cbr\u003eempurples the path.  In October it could not be either.  More attractive\u003cbr\u003ewas that cerulean tint, seen in the iris of a woman's eye--the eye of\u003cbr\u003eMarion Wade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe sunbeams danced upon her yellow hair, with apparent delight, kissing\u003cbr\u003eits tresses of kindred colour--kissing her radiant cheek, that, even\u003cbr\u003eunder the shadow of the trees, looked luminous.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079451721968,"sku":"2940013446977","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013446977_p0.jpg?v=1763581378","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013446977","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}