{"product_id":"2940013683099","title":"The Seven Lights","description":"To the vagrant beggar his house and meal-chest were ever open; and to\u003cbr\u003eno one, whatever his condition, were a night's quarters ever refused.\u003cbr\u003eM'Pherson's house, in short, formed a kind of focus, with a power to\u003cbr\u003edraw towards itself all the misery and poverty in the country within a\u003cbr\u003ecircle whose diameter might be reckoned at somewhere about twenty\u003cbr\u003emiles. The wandering mendicant made it one of his regular stages, and\u003cbr\u003ethe traveller of better degree toiled on his way with increased\u003cbr\u003eactivity, that he might make it his quarters for the night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFortunately for the character and credit of M'Pherson's hospitality,\u003cbr\u003ehis wife was of an equally kind and generous disposition with himself;\u003cbr\u003eso that his absences from home, which were frequent, and sometimes\u003cbr\u003elong, did not at all affect the treatment of the stranger under his\u003cbr\u003eroof, or make his welcome less cordial.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the hospitality exercised at Morvane, which was the name of\u003cbr\u003eM'Pherson's farm, sometimes, it must be confessed, led to occasional\u003cbr\u003esmall depredations--such as the loss of a pair of blankets, a sheet,\u003cbr\u003eor a pair of stockings, carried off by the ungrateful vagabonds whom\u003cbr\u003ehe sometimes sheltered. There were, however, one pair of blankets\u003cbr\u003eabstracted in this way, that found their road back to their owner in\u003cbr\u003erather a curious manner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe morning was thick and misty, when the thief (in the case alluded\u003cbr\u003eto) decamped with his booty, and continued so during the whole day, so\u003cbr\u003ethat no object, at any distance, however large, could be seen. After\u003cbr\u003etoiling for several hours, under the impression that he was leaving\u003cbr\u003eMorvane far behind, the vagabond, who was also a stranger in the\u003cbr\u003ecountry, approached a house, with the stolen blankets snugly and\u003cbr\u003ecarefully bundled on his back, and knocked at the door, with the view\u003cbr\u003eof seeking a night's quarters, as it was now dusk. The door was\u003cbr\u003eopened; but by whom, think you, good reader? Why, by M'Pherson!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe thief, without knowing it, had landed precisely at the point from\u003cbr\u003ewhich he had set out. Being instantly recognised, he was politely\u003cbr\u003einvited to walk in. To this kind invitation, the thief replied by\u003cbr\u003ethrowing down the blankets, and taking to his heels--thus making, with\u003cbr\u003ehis own hands, a restitution which was very far from being intended.\u003cbr\u003ePoor M'Pherson, however, did not get all his stolen blankets back in\u003cbr\u003ethis way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis, however, is a digression. To proceed with our tale. One night,\u003cbr\u003ewhen M'Pherson was absent, attending a market at some distance, an\u003cbr\u003eelderly female appeared at the door, with the usual demand of a\u003cbr\u003enight's lodging, which, with the usual hospitality of Morvane, was at\u003cbr\u003eonce complied with. The stranger, who was a remarkably tall woman, was\u003cbr\u003edressed in widow's weeds, and of rather respectable appearance; her\u003cbr\u003edeportment was grave, even stern, and altogether she seemed as if\u003cbr\u003esuffering from some recent affliction.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145767043312,"sku":"2940013683099","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013683099","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}