{"product_id":"2940013652781","title":"THE BREAKING POINT","description":"I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Heaven and earth,\" sang the tenor, Mr. Henry Wallace, owner of the\u003cbr\u003eWallace garage. His larynx, which gave him somewhat the effect of having\u003cbr\u003eswallowed a crab-apple and got it only part way down, protruded above\u003cbr\u003ehis low collar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Heaven and earth,\" sang the bass, Mr. Edwin Goodno, of the meat market\u003cbr\u003eand the Boy Scouts. \"Heaven and earth, are full--\" His chin, large and\u003cbr\u003efleshy, buried itself deep; his eyes were glued on the music sheet in\u003cbr\u003ehis hand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Are full, are full, are full,\" sang the soprano, Clare Rossiter, of the\u003cbr\u003eyellow colonial house on the Ridgely Road. She sang with her eyes turned\u003cbr\u003eup, and as she reached G flat she lifted herself on her toes. \"Of the\u003cbr\u003emajesty, of Thy glory.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ready,\" barked the choir master. \"Full now, and all together.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe choir room in the parish house resounded to the twenty voices of the\u003cbr\u003echoir. The choir master at the piano kept time with his head. Earnest\u003cbr\u003eand intent, they filled the building with the Festival Te Deum of Dudley\u003cbr\u003eBuck, Opus 63, No. 1.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth Wheeler liked choir practice. She liked the way in which,\u003cbr\u003eafter the different parts had been run through, the voices finally\u003cbr\u003eblended into harmony and beauty. She liked the small sense of\u003cbr\u003eachievement it gave her, and of being a part, on Sundays, of the\u003cbr\u003eservice. She liked the feeling, when she put on the black cassock and\u003cbr\u003ewhite surplice and the small round velvet cap of having placed in her\u003cbr\u003elocker the things of this world, such as a rose-colored hat and a blue\u003cbr\u003egeorgette frock, and of being stripped, as it were, for aspirations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt such times she had vague dreams of renunciation. She saw herself\u003cbr\u003ecloistered in some quiet spot, withdrawn from the world; a place where\u003cbr\u003ethere were long vistas of pillars and Gothic arches, after a photograph\u003cbr\u003ein the living room at home, and a great organ somewhere, playing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe would go home from church, however, clad in the rose-colored hat and\u003cbr\u003ethe blue georgette frock, and eat a healthy Sunday luncheon; and by two\u003cbr\u003eo'clock in the afternoon, when the family slept and Jim had gone to the\u003cbr\u003ecountry club, her dreams were quite likely to be entirely different.\u003cbr\u003eGenerally speaking, they had to do with love. Romantic, unclouded young\u003cbr\u003elove dramatic only because it was love, and very happy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometime, perhaps, some one would come and say he loved her. That was\u003cbr\u003eall. That was at once the beginning and the end. Her dreams led up to\u003cbr\u003ethat and stopped. Not by so much as a hand clasp did they pass that\u003cbr\u003ewall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo she sat in the choir room and awaited her turn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Altos a little stronger, please.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Of the majesty, of the majesty, of the majesty, of Thy gl-o-o-ry,\" sang\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth. And was at once a nun and a principal in a sentimental dream\u003cbr\u003eof two.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat appeared to the eye was a small and rather ethereal figure with\u003cbr\u003esleek brown hair and wistful eyes; nice eyes, of no particular color.\u003cbr\u003ePretty with the beauty of youth, sensitive and thoughtful, infinitely\u003cbr\u003eloyal and capable of suffering and not otherwise extraordinary was\u003cbr\u003eElizabeth Wheeler in her plain wooden chair. A figure suggestive of no\u003cbr\u003edrama and certainly of no tragedy, its attitude expectant and waiting,\u003cbr\u003ewith that alternate hope and fear which is youth at twenty, when all of\u003cbr\u003elife lies ahead and every to-morrow may hold some great adventure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClare Rossiter walked home that night with Elizabeth. She was a tall\u003cbr\u003eblonde girl, lithe and graceful, and with a calculated coquetry in her\u003cbr\u003eclothes.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152690856176,"sku":"2940013652781","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013652781_p0.jpg?v=1763596550","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013652781","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}