{"product_id":"2940013768932","title":"The Bride","description":"\"He shall not see the rivers, the floods,\u003cbr\u003ethe brooks of honey and butter\"--Job.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey met at Krupp and Mason's, musical-instrument-makers, of Little\u003cbr\u003eBritain, E.C., where Walter had been employed two years, and then came\u003cbr\u003eAnnie to typewrite, and be serviceable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey began to \"go out\" together after six o'clock; and when Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eEvans, Annie's mamma, lost her lodger, Annie mentioned it, and Walter\u003cbr\u003ewent to live with them at No. 13 Culford Road, N.; by which time Annie\u003cbr\u003eand Walter might almost be said to have been engaged. His salary,\u003cbr\u003ehowever, was only thirty shillings a week.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was the thorough Cockney, Walter; a well-set-up person of thirty,\u003cbr\u003estrong-shouldered, with a square brow, a moustache, and black acne-\u003cbr\u003especks in his nose and pale face.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was on the night of his arrival at No. 13, that he for the first\u003cbr\u003etime saw Rachel, Annie's younger sister. Both girls, in fact, were\u003cbr\u003enamed \"Rachel\"--after a much-mourned mother of Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eEvans'; but Annie Rachel was called \"Annie,\" and Mary Rachel was\u003cbr\u003ecalled \"Rachel.\" Rachel helped Walter at the handle of his box to the\u003cbr\u003etop-back room, and here, in the lamplight he was able to see that she\u003cbr\u003ewas a tallish girl, with hair almost black, and with a sprinkling of\u003cbr\u003efreckles on her very white, thin nose, on the tip of which stood\u003cbr\u003ecollected, usually, some little sweats. She was thin-faced, and her\u003cbr\u003etop teeth projected a little so that her lips only closed with effort,\u003cbr\u003eshe not so pretty as pink-and-white little Annie, though one could\u003cbr\u003eguess, at a glance, that she was a person more to be respected.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What do you think of him?\" said Annie, meeting Rachel as she came\u003cbr\u003edown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He seems a nice fellow,\" Rachel said: \"rather goodlooking. And strong\u003cbr\u003ein the back, you bet.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWalter spent that evening with them in the area front-room, smoking a\u003cbr\u003efoul bulldog pipe, which slushed and gurgled to his suction; and at\u003cbr\u003eonce Mrs. Evans, a dark old lady without waist, all sighs and lack of\u003cbr\u003ebreath, decided that he was \"a gentlemanly, decent fellow.\" When bed-\u003cbr\u003etime came he made the proposal to lead them in prayer; and to this\u003cbr\u003ethey submitted, Annie having forewarned them that he was \"a\u003cbr\u003eChristian.\" As he climbed to his room, the devoted girl found an\u003cbr\u003eexcuse to slip out after him, and in the passage of the first floor\u003cbr\u003ethere was a little kiss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Only one,\" she said, with an uplifted finger.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And what about his little brother, then?\" he chuckled--a chuckle with\u003cbr\u003ewhich all his jokes were accompanied: a kind of guttural chuckle,\u003cbr\u003ewhich seemed to descend or stick straining in the throat, instead of\u003cbr\u003erising to the lips.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You go on,\" she said playfully, tapped his cheek, and ran down. So\u003cbr\u003eWalter slept for the first night at Mrs. Evans'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the whole, as time passed, he had a good deal of the society of the\u003cbr\u003ewomen: for the theatre was a thing abominable to him, and in the\u003cbr\u003eevenings he stayed in the underground parlour, sharing the bread-and-\u003cbr\u003echeese supper, and growing familiar with the sighs of Mrs. Evans over\u003cbr\u003eher once estate in the world. Rachel, the silent, sewed; Annie, whose\u003cbr\u003erelation with Walter was still unannounced, though perhaps guessed,\u003cbr\u003ecould play hymn-tunes on the old piano, and she played.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070248730864,"sku":"2940013768932","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013768932_p0.jpg?v=1763590018","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013768932","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}