{"product_id":"2940014206389","title":"THE HOUSE OF THE VAMPIRE","description":"I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe freakish little leader of the orchestra, newly imported from Sicily\u003cbr\u003eto New York, tossed his conductor's wand excitedly through the air,\u003cbr\u003edrowning with musical thunders the hum of conversation and the clatter\u003cbr\u003eof plates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet neither his apish demeanour nor the deafening noises that responded\u003cbr\u003eto every movement of his agile body detracted attention from the figure\u003cbr\u003eof Reginald Clarke and the young man at his side as they smilingly wound\u003cbr\u003etheir way to the exit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe boy's expression was pleasant, with an inkling of wistfulness, while\u003cbr\u003ethe soft glimmer of his lucid eyes betrayed the poet and the dreamer.\u003cbr\u003eThe smile of Reginald Clarke was the smile of a conqueror. A suspicion\u003cbr\u003eof silver in his crown of dark hair only added dignity to his bearing,\u003cbr\u003ewhile the infinitely ramified lines above the heavy-set mouth spoke at\u003cbr\u003eonce of subtlety and of strength. Without stretch of the imagination one\u003cbr\u003emight have likened him to a Roman cardinal of the days of the Borgias,\u003cbr\u003ewho had miraculously stepped forth from the time-stained canvas and\u003cbr\u003eslipped into twentieth century evening-clothes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the affability of complete self-possession he nodded in response to\u003cbr\u003egreetings from all sides, inclining his head with special politeness to\u003cbr\u003ea young woman whose sea-blue eyes were riveted upon his features with a\u003cbr\u003elook of mingled hate and admiration.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe woman, disregarding his silent salutation, continued to stare at him\u003cbr\u003ewild-eyed, as a damned soul in purgatory might look at Satan passing in\u003cbr\u003eregal splendour through the seventy times sevenfold circles of hell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReginald Clarke walked on unconcernedly through the rows of gay diners,\u003cbr\u003estill smiling, affable, calm. But his companion bethought himself of\u003cbr\u003ecertain rumours he had heard concerning Ethel Brandenbourg's mad love\u003cbr\u003efor the man from whose features she could not even now turn her eyes.\u003cbr\u003eEvidently her passion was unreciprocated. It had not always been so.\u003cbr\u003eThere was a time in her career, some years ago in Paris, when it was\u003cbr\u003ewhispered that she had secretly married him and, not much later,\u003cbr\u003eobtained a divorce. The matter was never cleared up, as both preserved\u003cbr\u003ean uncompromising silence upon the subject of their matrimonial\u003cbr\u003eexperience. Certain it was that, for a space, the genius of Reginald\u003cbr\u003eClarke had completely dominated her brush, and that, ever since he had\u003cbr\u003ethrown her aside, her pictures were but plagiarisms of her former\u003cbr\u003eartistic self.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe cause of the rupture between them was a matter only of surmise; but\u003cbr\u003ethe effect it had on the woman testified clearly to the remarkable power\u003cbr\u003eof Reginald Clarke. He had entered her life and, behold! the world was\u003cbr\u003etransfixed on her canvases in myriad hues of transcending radiance; he\u003cbr\u003ehad passed from it, and with him vanished the brilliancy of her\u003cbr\u003ecolouring, as at sunset the borrowed amber and gold fade from the face\u003cbr\u003eof the clouds.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47080013201648,"sku":"2940014206389","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014206389_p0.jpg?v=1763602973","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014206389","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}