{"product_id":"2940013743489","title":"The Flames","description":"AN introductory note seems called for to explain to the reader the\u003cbr\u003eorigin of the following strange document, which I have received from a\u003cbr\u003efriend with a view to publication. The author has given it the form of\u003cbr\u003ea letter to myself, and he signs himself with his nickname, \"Cass,\"\u003cbr\u003ewhich is an abbreviation of Cassandra. I have seldom met Cass since we\u003cbr\u003ewere undergraduates together at Oxford before the war of 1914. Even in\u003cbr\u003ethose days he was addicted to lurid forebodings, hence his nickname.\u003cbr\u003eMy last meeting with him was in one of the great London blitzes of\u003cbr\u003e1941, when he reminded me that he had long ago prophesied the end of\u003cbr\u003ecivilization in world-wide fire. The Battle of London, he affirmed,\u003cbr\u003ewas the beginning of the long-drawn-out disaster.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCass will not, I am sure, mind my saying that he always seemed to us a\u003cbr\u003ebit crazy: but he certainly had a queer knack of prophesy, and though\u003cbr\u003ewe thought him sometimes curiously unable to understand the springs of\u003cbr\u003ehis own behaviour, he had a remarkable gift of insight into the minds\u003cbr\u003eof others. This enabled him to help some of us to straighten out our\u003cbr\u003etangles, and I for one owe him a debt of deep gratitude. He saw me\u003cbr\u003eheading for a most disastrous love affair, and by magic (no other word\u003cbr\u003eseems adequate) he opened my eyes to the folly of it. It is for this\u003cbr\u003ereason that I feel bound to carry out his request to publish the\u003cbr\u003efollowing statement. I cannot myself vouch for its truth. Cass knows\u003cbr\u003every well that I am an inveterate sceptic about all his fantastic\u003cbr\u003eideas. It was on this account that he invented my nickname. \"Thos,\"\u003cbr\u003ewhich most of my Oxford friends adopted. \"Thos,\" of course, is an\u003cbr\u003eabbreviation for Thomas, and refers to the \"doubting Thomas\" of the\u003cbr\u003eNew Testament.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCass, I feel confident, is sufficiently detached and sane to realize\u003cbr\u003ethat what is veridical for him may be sheer extravagance for others,\u003cbr\u003ewho have no direct experience by which to judge his claims. But if I\u003cbr\u003erefrain from believing, I also refrain from disbelieving. Too often in\u003cbr\u003ethe past I have known his wild prophesies come true.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe head of the following bulky letter bears the address of a well-\u003cbr\u003eknown mental home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"THOS.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079659012336,"sku":"2940013743489","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013743489_p0.jpg?v=1763589655","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013743489","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}