{"product_id":"2940013683259","title":"The Shadow of a Shade","description":"My sister Lettie has lived with me ever since I had a home of my own.\u003cbr\u003eShe was my little housekeeper before I married. Now she is my wife's\u003cbr\u003econstant companion, and the 'darling auntie' of my children, who go to\u003cbr\u003eher for comfort, advice, and aid in all their little troubles and\u003cbr\u003eperplexities.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, though she has a comfortable home, and loving hearts around her,\u003cbr\u003eshe wears a grave, melancholy look on her face, which puzzles\u003cbr\u003eacquaintances and grieves friends.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA disappointment! Yes, the old story of a lost lover is the reason for\u003cbr\u003eLattie's looks. She has had good offers often; but since she lost the\u003cbr\u003efirst love of her heart she has never indulged in the happy dream of\u003cbr\u003eloving and being loved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Mason was a cousin of my wife's--a sailor by profession. He and\u003cbr\u003eLettie met one another at our wedding, and fell in love at first\u003cbr\u003esight. George's father had seen service before him on the great\u003cbr\u003emysterious sea, and had been especially known as a good Arctic sailor,\u003cbr\u003ehaving shared in more than one expedition in search of the North Pole\u003cbr\u003eand the North-West Passage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not a matter of surprise to me, therefore, when George\u003cbr\u003evolunteered to go out in the Pioneer, which was being fitted out for a\u003cbr\u003ecruise in search of Franklin and his missing expedition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was a fascination about such an undertaking that I felt I could\u003cbr\u003enot have resisted had I been in his place. Of course, Lettie did not\u003cbr\u003elike the idea at all, but he silenced her by telling her that men who\u003cbr\u003evolunteered for Arctic search were never lost sight of, and that he\u003cbr\u003eshould not make as much advance in his profession in a dozen years as\u003cbr\u003ehe would in the year or so of this expedition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI cannot say that Lettie, even after this, was quite satisfied with\u003cbr\u003ethe notion of his going, but, at all events, she did not argue against\u003cbr\u003eit any longer. But the grave look, which is now habitual with her, but\u003cbr\u003ewas a rare thing in her young and happy days, passed over her face\u003cbr\u003esometimes when she thought no one was looking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy younger brother, Harry, was at this time an academy student. He was\u003cbr\u003eonly a beginner then.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow he is pretty well known in the art world, and his pictures command\u003cbr\u003efair prices. Like all beginners in art, he was full of fancies and\u003cbr\u003etheories. He would have been a pre-Raphaelite, only pre-Raphaelism had\u003cbr\u003enot been invented then. His peculiar craze was for what he styled the\u003cbr\u003eVenetian School. Now, it chanced that George had a fine Italian-\u003cbr\u003elooking head, and Harry persuaded him to sit to him for his portrait.\u003cbr\u003eIt was a fair likeness, but a very moderate work of art. The\u003cbr\u003ebackground was so very dark, and George's naval costume so very deep\u003cbr\u003ein colour, that the face came out too white and staring. It was a\u003cbr\u003ethree-quarter picture; but only one hand showed in it, leaning on the\u003cbr\u003ehilt of a sword. As George said, he looked much more like the\u003cbr\u003ecommander of a Venetian galley than a modern mate.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145767272688,"sku":"2940013683259","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013683259_p0.jpg?v=1763584452","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013683259","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}