{"product_id":"2940013740709","title":"A Fragment of Life","description":"Edward Darnell awoke from a dream of an ancient wood, and of a clear\u003cbr\u003ewell rising into grey film and vapour beneath a misty, glimmering\u003cbr\u003eheat; and as his eyes opened he saw the sunlight bright in the room,\u003cbr\u003esparkling on the varnish of the new furniture. He turned and found his\u003cbr\u003ewife's place vacant, and with some confusion and wonder of the dream\u003cbr\u003estill lingering in his mind, he rose also, and began hurriedly to set\u003cbr\u003eabout his dressing, for he had overslept a little, and the 'bus passed\u003cbr\u003ethe corner at 9.15. He was a tall, thin man, dark-haired and\u003cbr\u003edark-eyed, and in spite of the routine of the City, the counting of\u003cbr\u003ecoupons, and all the mechanical drudgery that had lasted for ten\u003cbr\u003eyears, there still remained about him the curious hint of a wild\u003cbr\u003egrace, as if he had been born a creature of the antique wood, and had\u003cbr\u003eseen the fountain rising from the green moss and the grey rocks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe breakfast was laid in the room on the ground floor, the back room\u003cbr\u003ewith the French windows looking on the garden, and before he sat down\u003cbr\u003eto his fried bacon he kissed his wife seriously and dutifully.  She\u003cbr\u003ehad brown hair and brown eyes, and though her lovely face was grave\u003cbr\u003eand quiet, one would have said that she might have awaited her husband\u003cbr\u003eunder the old trees, and bathed in the pool hollowed out of the rocks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey had a good deal to talk over while the coffee was poured out and\u003cbr\u003ethe bacon eaten, and Darnell's egg brought in by the stupid, staring\u003cbr\u003eservant-girl of the dusty face. They had been married for a year, and\u003cbr\u003ethey had got on excellently, rarely sitting silent for more than an\u003cbr\u003ehour, but for the past few weeks Aunt Marian's present had afforded a\u003cbr\u003esubject for conversation which seemed inexhaustible. Mrs.  Darnell had\u003cbr\u003ebeen Miss Mary Reynolds, the daughter of an auctioneer and estate\u003cbr\u003eagent in Notting Hill, and Aunt Marian was her mother's sister, who\u003cbr\u003ewas supposed rather to have lowered herself by marrying a coal\u003cbr\u003emerchant, in a small way, at Turnham Green.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarian had felt the family attitude a good deal, and the Reynoldses\u003cbr\u003ewere sorry for many things that had been said, when the coal merchant\u003cbr\u003esaved money and took up land on building leases in the neighbourhood\u003cbr\u003eof Crouch End, greatly to his advantage, as it appeared. Nobody had\u003cbr\u003ethought that Nixon could ever do very much; but he and his wife had\u003cbr\u003ebeen living for years in a beautiful house at Barnet, with\u003cbr\u003ebow-windows, shrubs, and a paddock, and the two families saw but\u003cbr\u003elittle of each other, for Mr. Reynolds was not very prosperous. Of\u003cbr\u003ecourse, Aunt Marian and her husband had been asked to Mary's wedding,\u003cbr\u003ebut they had sent excuses with a nice little set of silver apostle\u003cbr\u003espoons, and it was feared that nothing more was to be looked\u003cbr\u003efor. However, on Mary's birthday her aunt had written a most\u003cbr\u003eaffectionate letter, enclosing a cheque for a hundred pounds from\u003cbr\u003e'Robert' and herself, and ever since the receipt of the money\u003cbr\u003ethe Darnells had discussed the question of its judicious\u003cbr\u003edisposal. Mrs. Darnell had wished to invest the whole sum in\u003cbr\u003eGovernment securities, but Mr. Darnell had pointed out that the rate\u003cbr\u003eof interest was absurdly low, and after a good deal of talk he had\u003cbr\u003epersuaded his wife to put ninety pounds of the money in a safe mine,\u003cbr\u003ewhich was paying five per cent. This was very well, but the remaining\u003cbr\u003eten pounds, which Mrs. Darnell had insisted on reserving, gave rise to\u003cbr\u003elegends and discourses as interminable as the disputes of the schools.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt first Mr. Darnell had proposed that they should furnish the 'spare'\u003cbr\u003eroom. There were four bedrooms in the house: their own room, the small\u003cbr\u003eone for the servant, and two others overlooking the garden, one of\u003cbr\u003ewhich had been used for storing boxes, ends of rope, and odd numbers\u003cbr\u003eof 'Quiet Days' and 'Sunday Evenings,' besides some worn suits\u003cbr\u003ebelonging to Mr. Darnell which had been carefully wrapped up and laid\u003cbr\u003eby, as he scarcely knew what to do with them. The other room was\u003cbr\u003efrankly waste and vacant, and one Saturday afternoon, as he was coming\u003cbr\u003ehome in the 'bus, and while he revolved that difficult question of the\u003cbr\u003eten pounds, the unseemly emptiness of the spare room suddenly came\u003cbr\u003einto his mind, and he glowed with the idea that now, thanks to Aunt\u003cbr\u003eMarian, it could be furnished. He was busied with this delightful\u003cbr\u003ethought all the way home, but when he let himself in, he said nothing\u003cbr\u003eto his wife, since he felt that his idea must be matured. He told\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Darnell that, having important business, he was obliged to go out\u003cbr\u003eagain directly, but that he should be back without fail for tea at\u003cbr\u003ehalf-past six; and Mary, on her side, was not sorry to be alone, as\u003cbr\u003eshe was a little behind-hand with the household books.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070259085552,"sku":"2940013740709","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013740709_p0.jpg?v=1763589613","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013740709","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}