{"product_id":"2940013693432","title":"A Prince of the Captivity","description":"On a warm June evening three men were sitting in the smoking-room\u003cbr\u003eof a London club.  One was an old man, with a face which had once\u003cbr\u003ebeen weather-beaten and was now intricately seamed with veins and\u003cbr\u003ewrinkles.  His bearing, his shoulders trimly squared even at\u003cbr\u003eseventy, spoke of the old style of British regimental officer.  The\u003cbr\u003esecond was in his early thirties, a heavy young man, with nothing\u003cbr\u003eof the Guardsman about him except his tie.  The third might have\u003cbr\u003ebeen any age between forty and sixty, and had writ plain upon him\u003cbr\u003ethe profession of the law.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe newsboys were shouting in Pall Mall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"They can't have got the verdict yet,\" said the last.  \"Jenks was\u003cbr\u003eonly beginning to sum up when I left.  We shall hear nothing for\u003cbr\u003eanother hour.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe old man shivered.  \"Good God!  It is awful to be waiting here\u003cbr\u003eto know whether Tom Melfort's boy is to go to prison for six years\u003cbr\u003eor ten.  I suppose there's no chance of an acquittal.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"None,\" said the lawyer.  \"You see, he pled guilty.  Leithen was\u003cbr\u003ehis counsel, and I believe did his best to get him to change his\u003cbr\u003emind.  But the fellow was adamant.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe young soldier, whose name was Lyson, shook his head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That was like Adam.  There never was a more obstinate chap in his\u003cbr\u003equiet way.  Very easy and good-natured till you presumed just a\u003cbr\u003elittle too much on his placidity, and then you found yourself hard\u003cbr\u003eup against a granite wall.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How well did you know him?\" the lawyer asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I was at school with him and we passed out of Sandhurst together.\u003cbr\u003eHe was a friend, but not what you would call an intimate.  Too\u003cbr\u003eclever, and a little too much of the wise youth. . . .  Oh yes, he\u003cbr\u003ewas popular, for he was a first-class sportsman and a good fellow,\u003cbr\u003ebut he had a bit too much professional keenness for lazy dogs like\u003cbr\u003eme.  After that he went straight ahead, as you know, and left us\u003cbr\u003eall behind.  Somebody told me that old Mullins said he was the most\u003cbr\u003ebrilliant man they had had at the Staff College for a generation.\u003cbr\u003eHe had got a European war on the brain, and spent most of his leave\u003cbr\u003etramping about the Ardennes or bicycling in Lorraine.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If this thing hadn't happened, what would you have said about his\u003cbr\u003echaracter?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sound as the Bank of England,\" was the answer.  \"A trifle\u003cbr\u003epuritanical, maybe.  I used to feel that if I ever did anything\u003cbr\u003emean I should be more ashamed to face Adam Melfort than any other\u003cbr\u003eman alive.  You remember how he looked, sir,\" and he turned to the\u003cbr\u003eold man.  \"Always in training--walked with a light step as if he\u003cbr\u003ewere on the hill after deer--terribly quick off the mark in an\u003cbr\u003eargument--all fine and hard and tightly screwed together.  The grip\u003cbr\u003eof his small firm hand had a sort of electric energy.  Not the kind\u003cbr\u003eof man you would think likely to take the wrong turning.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am not very clear. . . .  What exactly happened?\" asked the old\u003cbr\u003eman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Common vulgar forgery,\" the lawyer replied.  \"He altered a cheque\u003cbr\u003ewhich was made out to his wife--part of her allowance from a rich\u003cbr\u003egreat-uncle.  The facts were not in doubt, and he made no attempt\u003cbr\u003eto dispute them.  He confessed what he had done, and explained it\u003cbr\u003eby a sudden madness.  The funny thing was that he did not seem to\u003cbr\u003ebe ashamed of it.  He stood there quite cool and collected, with a\u003cbr\u003eghost of a smile on his face, making admissions which he must have\u003cbr\u003eknown were going to wreck him for good.  You say he was wrapt up in\u003cbr\u003ehis career, but I never saw anyone face a crash more coolly. . . .\u003cbr\u003eThe absence of motive puzzles me.  Were the Melforts hard up?  They\u003cbr\u003enever behaved as if they were.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068911730928,"sku":"2940013693432","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013693432_p0.jpg?v=1763584092","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013693432","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}