{"product_id":"2940013662971","title":"The Man who was Two","description":"The Throne Room in the Royal Windsor Hotel was discreetly full of\u003cbr\u003ediners--the management never allowed that sacred haven to be packed even\u003cbr\u003ein holiday times--and every little table, with its shaded pink lights,\u003cbr\u003eheld its sheaf of youth and beauty spilling with laughter and dazzling\u003cbr\u003ewith eyes as bright and alluring as the gems that seemed to float there\u003cbr\u003eon a sea of foamy froth cradled in pink and mauve chiffon and diaphanous\u003cbr\u003elace. There was something exceedingly intimate in the half-shrouded\u003cbr\u003etables, each encrusted with the loveliest things that breathe and\u003cbr\u003epalpitate in this transient life of ours, and yet it seemed part of one\u003cbr\u003esmooth harmonious whole as if the elect gathered there were, after all,\u003cbr\u003eone exclusive family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was warm and alluring there that eventful New Year's Eve, with its\u003cbr\u003elights and warmth and laughter, its well-trained waiters, and the scent\u003cbr\u003eof roses that clung caressingly to it all. The mere whisper of care or\u003cbr\u003esorrow or tragedy there would have savoured of outrage, and yet those\u003cbr\u003einconsequent diners were no more than ordinary flesh and blood with the\u003cbr\u003eheritage of sorrow and suffering that comes to us all. But not to-night,\u003cbr\u003esurely not to-night, amidst the wealth of flowers and the ripple of\u003cbr\u003elaughter and the sheer joy of being. And it was some half humorous\u003cbr\u003ephilosophy like this that Roy Gilette was casting inconsequently before\u003cbr\u003ehis three dinner companions as he sat at Sir Marston Manley's table in\u003cbr\u003ethe centre of the room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Now, to an old traveller like me,\" he frivolled on, \"this is a lasting\u003cbr\u003ejoy. To a man of the world, Sir Marston, this is a dozen novels rolled\u003cbr\u003einto one. How many stories, how many plots for my film dramas that one\u003cbr\u003eday shall thrill the world are awaiting me here if only the gifts of\u003cbr\u003eAsmodeus were mine?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGilette waved his well-manicured hand comprehensively around and smiled\u003cbr\u003einto the faces of his companions. That clean-shaven, handsome face of\u003cbr\u003ehis was distinctly alluring. Sir Marston smiled, too, but it was a smile\u003cbr\u003eof envy, that the famous painter successfully disguised behind his white\u003cbr\u003eflowing beard and wide-rimmed silver spectacles. Yet he loved to be with\u003cbr\u003eyouth and bathe in it. And that was why he was entertaining youth and\u003cbr\u003ebeauty tonight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's good to hear that you are going to do something at last,\" he said\u003cbr\u003e\"Even the youngest of us has his responsibilities. But the cinema!\u003cbr\u003eReally, my dear Roy.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And why not?\" Gilette demanded. \"There's a great future before the\u003cbr\u003epictorial drama when the cowboys cease from troubling and the Chaplins\u003cbr\u003eare at rest. And it fills me with grief, my dear old guardian, to see\u003cbr\u003ethis professional jealousy. A painter who is the friend of kings ought\u003cbr\u003eto be beyond such weakness.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, well,\" the famous artist laughed, \"I ought to be happy in the\u003cbr\u003eknowledge that you are doing something useful. But do you really mean\u003cbr\u003eit, dear boy? What about the famous comedy that was to make the shade of\u003cbr\u003eSheridan turn uneasily in his grave? And the novel that should cause\u003cbr\u003efolk to forget the very name of Dickens.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47156000719088,"sku":"2940013662971","price":3.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013662971","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}