{"product_id":"2940013704190","title":"Over the River","description":"Clare, who for seventeen months had been the wife of Sir Gerald\u003cbr\u003eCorven of the Colonial Service, stood on the boat deck of an Orient\u003cbr\u003eliner in the River Thames, waiting for it to dock.  It was ten\u003cbr\u003eo'clock of a mild day in October, but she wore a thick tweed coat,\u003cbr\u003efor the voyage had been hot.  She looked pale--indeed, a little\u003cbr\u003esallow--but her clear brown eyes were fixed eagerly on the land and\u003cbr\u003eher slightly touched-up lips were parted, so that her face had the\u003cbr\u003evividness to which it was accustomed.  She stood alone, until a\u003cbr\u003evoice said:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh! HERE you are!\" and a young man, appearing from behind a boat,\u003cbr\u003estood beside her.  Without turning, she said:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Absolutely perfect day!  It ought to be lovely at home.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I thought you'd be staying in Town for a night at least; and we\u003cbr\u003ecould have had a dinner and theatre.  Won't you?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My dear young man, I shall be met.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perfectly damnable, things coming to an end!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Often more damnable, things beginning.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe gave her a long look, and said suddenly:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Clare, you realise, of course, that I love you?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe nodded.  \"Yes.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But you don't love me?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Wholly without prejudice.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I wish--I wish you could catch fire for a moment.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am a respectable married woman, Tony.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Coming back to England because--\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Of the climate of Ceylon.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe kicked at the rail.  \"Just as it's getting perfect.  I've not\u003cbr\u003esaid anything, but I know that your--that Corven--\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClare lifted her eyebrows, and he was silent; then both looked at\u003cbr\u003ethe shore, becoming momentarily more and more a consideration.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen two young people have been nearly three weeks together on\u003cbr\u003eboard a ship, they do not know each other half so well as they\u003cbr\u003ethink they do.  In the abiding inanity of a life when everything\u003cbr\u003ehas stopped except the engines, the water slipping along the ship's\u003cbr\u003esides, and the curving of the sun in the sky, their daily chair-to-\u003cbr\u003echair intimacy gathers a queer momentum and a sort of lazy warmth.\u003cbr\u003eThey know that they are getting talked about, and do not care.\u003cbr\u003eAfter all, they cannot get off the ship, and there is nothing else\u003cbr\u003eto do.  They dance together, and the sway of the ship, however\u003cbr\u003eslight, favours the closeness of their contacts.  After ten days or\u003cbr\u003eso they settle down to a life together, more continuous than that\u003cbr\u003eof marriage, except that they still spend their nights apart.  And\u003cbr\u003ethen, all of a sudden, the ship stops, and they stop, and there is\u003cbr\u003ea feeling, at least on one side, perhaps on both, that stocktaking\u003cbr\u003ehas been left till too late.  A hurried vexed excitement, not\u003cbr\u003eunpleasurable, because suspended animation is at an end, invades\u003cbr\u003etheir faculties; they are faced with the real equation of land\u003cbr\u003eanimals who have been at sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClare broke the silence.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47121263526128,"sku":"2940013704190","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013704190_p0.jpg?v=1763584598","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013704190","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}