{"product_id":"2940013682344","title":"The Plague of Ghosts and Other Stories","description":"A merry, reckless, roaring soul had been Sir Geoffrey, and if it was\u003cbr\u003esaid of him that in ten years he had never gone sober to bed, yet was\u003cbr\u003eit confessed that he was a pleasant, humorous gentleman in his cups,\u003cbr\u003ejust as he was a pleasant, humorous gentleman in all the other\u003cbr\u003etraffics that made up his rascally life. If he lost his money at the\u003cbr\u003etables, he did so with an amiable smile in his handsome eyes and a\u003cbr\u003ejest on his lips. If at intervals, more or less regular, he would beat\u003cbr\u003ehis wife, periodically kick his servants down stairs, and\u003cbr\u003esystematically grind the faces of his tenants, yet all these things he\u003cbr\u003edid, at least, with an engaging joviality of demeanour.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn short, he was a very affable, charming scoundrel, and all England\u003cbr\u003ewas agreed that he richly deserved his end. And yet, the humour of the\u003cbr\u003ething--and it was just such a jest as Sir Geoffrey would have relished\u003cbr\u003ehad it been less against himself--lay in the fact that although none\u003cbr\u003eof the rascally things he had done could be considered by the law of\u003cbr\u003eEngland reason enough for hanging him, the crime for which he was\u003cbr\u003ehanged--that of highway robbery--was the one crime it had never\u003cbr\u003eoccurred to him to commit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe thing had fallen out in this wise:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSir Geoffrey, riding Londonwards, from his home near Guildford, one\u003cbr\u003eevening in late March, had been held up on Wandsworth Common by a\u003cbr\u003ecloaked figure on a huge grey mare. The failing light had gleamed from\u003cbr\u003ethe barrel of a pistol, and the highwayman's tone had been one that\u003cbr\u003easked no arguments, admitted of no compromise. But Sir Geoffrey in the\u003cbr\u003ecourse of his blustering career had become a useful man of his hands.\u003cbr\u003eOne blow of his heavy riding-crop had knocked aside the highwayman's\u003cbr\u003epistol, another had knocked in the highwayman's head and tumbled him\u003cbr\u003eheadlong from his saddle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSir Geoffrey was master of the situation, and, mightily pleased by it,\u003cbr\u003ehe bethought him of the spoils of war, which were his by right of\u003cbr\u003econquest. Without a qualm--nay, with a laugh and the lilt of a song on\u003cbr\u003ehis lips--Sir Geoffrey had dragged the stricken tobyman into the\u003cbr\u003eshelter of a clump of trees, and exchanged his own spavined horse for\u003cbr\u003ethe fellow's splendid mare, on which he had blithely pursued his road.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut before he had gone a couple of miles he had caught the sounds of a\u003cbr\u003enumerous party galloping behind and rapidly gaining on him. Now Sir\u003cbr\u003eGeoffrey's conscience--if so be he owned one--was at rest. He had done\u003cbr\u003eno wrong, leastways no wrong that should make him fear the law, and so\u003cbr\u003ehe rode easily, never thinking of attempting to outdistance the party\u003cbr\u003ewhich came on behind--a thing he might easily have done had he been so\u003cbr\u003einclined, bravely mounted as he was.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068911304944,"sku":"2940013682344","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013682344_p0.jpg?v=1763583901","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013682344","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}