{"product_id":"2940013690981","title":"The Most Maddening Story in the World","description":"The first man I met in my club was John Chester, M.P. It must have been\u003cbr\u003esome time in the March of 1920, and I was just home from four years'\u003cbr\u003eservice in India. And to be candid I was not at all certain that I\u003cbr\u003ealtogether appreciated this changed England into which I had come. Some\u003cbr\u003ethings I did not at first understand; others I soon discovered would\u003cbr\u003enever be in the least to my liking. But it was good to see John Chester\u003cbr\u003eagain, he, I knew well, would not have changed for all the wars in the\u003cbr\u003eworld. And to see him there, cool and dignified, in the well-remembered\u003cbr\u003egrey morning coat, was like finding a piece of the old England which for\u003cbr\u003eall those four years had for ever been in my mind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe stared at me in that curiously magisterial manner of his, and held my\u003cbr\u003ehand in his own for a rather longer time than Englishmen generally give\u003cbr\u003eto the business. Then he took me away to his own particular corner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Since you went away,\" he said, \"the powers that be have made many\u003cbr\u003eastonishing discoveries. The one that chiefly concerns us at the moment\u003cbr\u003ehas reference to drink. I am sorry to say, my dear friend, that for\u003cbr\u003eyears we have all been drinking far too much alcohol. Far too much,\" he\u003cbr\u003erepeated solemnly, and then smiled. \"We are now forbidden to drink\u003cbr\u003eduring the hours when a drink is most welcome.\" He looked at his watch.\u003cbr\u003e\"H'm, just an hour and a half to wait. Well, that will be enough for a\u003cbr\u003eshort history of India during the Great War, with details of the Hunnish\u003cbr\u003eplots you unearthed, and what the Amir of Afghanistan----\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was lighting my pipe. \"For four years,\" I told him, \"I have been\u003cbr\u003esoldiering after a fashion, and occasionally playing detective. I don't\u003cbr\u003ewant to hear another word about the Army or the Police. Both are\u003cbr\u003eexcellent bodies, but you can have too much of them. Here I am back in\u003cbr\u003emy club and you're the first person I see. Doesn't that suggest\u003cbr\u003esomething to you? Don't you think that after four years away I deserve\u003cbr\u003esomething in the nature of a--story?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A story?\" John Chester repeated the word with the air of a man who has\u003cbr\u003enever told a story in his life. \"A story from a man who has spent four\u003cbr\u003eyears of his life making crutches very slowly and very badly for\u003cbr\u003esoldiers who had never done him any harm? What sort of a story d'you\u003cbr\u003esuppose _I_ have to tell _you_?\" But I could see that he was pleased.\u003cbr\u003eThere was that queer little twinkle in his eye--the preparatory twinkle.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083146150128,"sku":"2940013690981","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013690981","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}