{"product_id":"2940013759978","title":"The Golden Ingot","description":"I had just retired to rest, with my eyes almost blind with the study\u003cbr\u003eof a new work on physiology by M. Brown-Sequard, when the night bell\u003cbr\u003ewas pulled violently.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was winter, and I confess I grumbled as I rose and went downstairs\u003cbr\u003eto open the door. Twice that week I had been aroused long after\u003cbr\u003emidnight for the most trivial causes. Once, to attend upon the son and\u003cbr\u003eheir of a wealthy family, who had cut his thumb with a penknife,\u003cbr\u003ewhich, it seems, he insisted on taking to bed with him; and once, to\u003cbr\u003erestore a young gentleman to consciousness, who had been found by his\u003cbr\u003ehorrified parent stretched insensible on the staircase. Diachylon in\u003cbr\u003ethe one case and ammonia in the other were all that my patients\u003cbr\u003erequired; and I had a faint suspicion that the present summons was\u003cbr\u003eperhaps occasioned by no case more necessitous than those I have\u003cbr\u003equoted. I was too young in my profession, however, to neglect\u003cbr\u003eopportunities. It is only when a physician rises to a very large\u003cbr\u003epractice that he can afford to be inconsiderate. I was on the first\u003cbr\u003estep of the ladder, so I humbly opened my door.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA woman was standing ankle deep in the snow that lay upon the stoop. I\u003cbr\u003ecaught but a dim glimpse of her form, for the night was cloudy; but I\u003cbr\u003ecould hear her teeth rattling like castanets, and, as the sharp wind\u003cbr\u003eblew her clothes close to her form, I could discern from the sharpness\u003cbr\u003eof the outlines that she was very scantily supplied with raiment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Come in, come in, my good woman,\" I said hastily, for the wind seemed\u003cbr\u003eto catch eagerly at the opportunity of making itself at home in my\u003cbr\u003ehall, and was rapidly forcing an entrance through the half--open door.\u003cbr\u003e\"Come in, you can tell me all you have to communicate inside.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe slipped in like a ghost, and I closed the door. While I was\u003cbr\u003estriking a light in my office, I could hear her teeth still clicking\u003cbr\u003eout in the dark hall, till it seemed as if some skeleton was\u003cbr\u003echattering. As soon as I obtained a light I begged her to enter the\u003cbr\u003eroom, and, without occupying myself particularly about her appearance,\u003cbr\u003easked her abruptly what her business was.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My father has met with a severe accident,\" she said, \"and requires\u003cbr\u003einstant surgical aid. I entreat you to come to him immediately.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe freshness and the melody of her voice startled me. Such voices\u003cbr\u003erarely, if ever, issue from any but beautiful forms. I looked at her\u003cbr\u003eattentively, but, owing to a nondescript species of shawl in which her\u003cbr\u003ehead was wrapped, I could discern nothing beyond what seemed to be a\u003cbr\u003epale, thin face and large eyes. Her dress was lamentable. An old silk,\u003cbr\u003eof a color now unrecognizable, clung to her figure in those limp folds\u003cbr\u003ewhich are so eloquent of misery. The creases where it had been folded\u003cbr\u003ewere worn nearly through, and the edges of the skirt had decayed into\u003cbr\u003ea species of irregular fringe, which was clotted and discolored with\u003cbr\u003emud. Her shoes---which were but half concealed by this scanty\u003cbr\u003egarment--were shapeless and soft with moisture. Her hands were hidden\u003cbr\u003eunder the ends of the shawl which covered her head and hung down over\u003cbr\u003ea bust, the outlines of which, although angular, seemed to possess\u003cbr\u003egrace. Poverty, when partially shrouded, seldom fails to interest:\u003cbr\u003ewitness the statue of the Veiled Beggar, by Monti.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068916646128,"sku":"2940013759978","price":1.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013759978_p0.jpg?v=1763589892","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013759978","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}