{"product_id":"2940014562492","title":"A Lad of Grit","description":"The sun was slowly sinking behind the tree-clad Hampshire Downs.\u003cbr\u003eAlready the long shadows of Rake Hill lay athwart the misty coombe, and\u003cbr\u003ethe glimmer of the innumerable forges in the valley beneath began to\u003cbr\u003ehold its own against the rapidly fading daylight.  The cold east wind,\u003cbr\u003efor it was but the beginning of March, in the year of grace 1660,\u003cbr\u003ewhistled through the clump of gaunt pine trees that marked the summit of\u003cbr\u003ethe hill, and, despite the fact that each of us wore a thick doublet,\u003cbr\u003ethe chilly blast cut us like a knife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI remember that evening well; its stirring incidents are graven on my\u003cbr\u003ememory as if they had happened but yesterday, though nigh on two score\u003cbr\u003eand ten winters and summers have passed over my head since the eventful\u003cbr\u003eyear of which I write.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy father and I were returning homewards from the great fair at\u003cbr\u003ePetersfield.  For an old man, he being well over sixty years of age, my\u003cbr\u003efather was the marvel of our village.  Tall but sparely built, his frame\u003cbr\u003ebetokened a strength of body that harmonized with the determination of\u003cbr\u003echaracter that made itself known by the glance of his steel-colored\u003cbr\u003eeyes.  Report says that when he came to Rake to settle down, some twelve\u003cbr\u003eor thirteen years back--I being but an infant in arms,--he did gain a\u003cbr\u003elasting reputation by outmatching one Caleb James, a notorious bully, at\u003cbr\u003ehis own game, breaking his pate with his own staff on the roadside hard\u003cbr\u003eby Milland Church.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoreover, as proof of his hardiness, is there not the testimony of the\u003cbr\u003eworthy Master Hugh Salesbury, the chirurgeon of Lyss--the same whose son\u003cbr\u003efell in Torrington’s action off Beachy Head,--to the effect that though\u003cbr\u003epractice was slack around Lyss, yet he perforce would have to give up if\u003cbr\u003enone were better patients than honest Owen Wentworth.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47172934172912,"sku":"2940014562492","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014562492_p0.jpg?v=1763611126","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014562492","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}