{"product_id":"2940014584760","title":"A THIN GHOST AND OTHERS","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                                                 PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER                                        1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE DIARY OF MR. POYNTER                                           49\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAN EPISODE OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY                                    73\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE                    107\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTWO DOCTORS                                                       135\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Thin Ghost and Others\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDr. Ashton--Thomas Ashton, Doctor of Divinity--sat in his study,\u003cbr\u003ehabited in a dressing-gown, and with a silk cap on his shaven\u003cbr\u003ehead--his wig being for the time taken off and placed on its block on\u003cbr\u003ea side table. He was a man of some fifty-five years, strongly made, of\u003cbr\u003ea sanguine complexion, an angry eye, and a long upper lip. Face and\u003cbr\u003eeye were lighted up at the moment when I picture him by the level ray\u003cbr\u003eof an afternoon sun that shone in upon him through a tall sash window,\u003cbr\u003egiving on the west. The room into which it shone was also tall, lined\u003cbr\u003ewith book-cases, and, where the wall showed between them, panelled. On\u003cbr\u003ethe table near the doctor's elbow was a green cloth, and upon it what\u003cbr\u003ehe would have called a silver standish--a tray with inkstands--quill\u003cbr\u003epens, a calf-bound book or two, some papers, a churchwarden pipe and\u003cbr\u003ebrass tobacco-box, a flask cased in plaited straw, and a liqueur\u003cbr\u003eglass. The year was 1730, the month December, the hour somewhat past\u003cbr\u003ethree in the afternoon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have described in these lines pretty much all that a superficial\u003cbr\u003eobserver would have noted when he looked into the room. What met Dr.\u003cbr\u003eAshton's eye when he looked out of it, sitting in his leather\u003cbr\u003earm-chair? Little more than the tops of the shrubs and fruit-trees of\u003cbr\u003ehis garden could be seen from that point, but the red brick wall of it\u003cbr\u003ewas visible in almost all the length of its western side. In the\u003cbr\u003emiddle of that was a gate--a double gate of rather elaborate iron\u003cbr\u003escroll-work, which allowed something of a view beyond. Through it he\u003cbr\u003ecould see that the ground sloped away almost at once to a bottom,\u003cbr\u003ealong which a stream must run, and rose steeply from it on the other\u003cbr\u003eside, up to a field that was park-like in character, and thickly\u003cbr\u003estudded with oaks, now, of course, leafless. They did not stand so\u003cbr\u003ethick together but that some glimpse of sky and horizon could be seen\u003cbr\u003ebetween their stems. The sky was now golden and the horizon, a horizon\u003cbr\u003eof distant woods, it seemed, was purple.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut all that Dr. Ashton could find to say, after contemplating this\u003cbr\u003eprospect for many minutes, was: \"Abominable!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA listener would have been aware, immediately upon this, of the sound\u003cbr\u003eof footsteps coming somewhat hurriedly in the direction of the study:\u003cbr\u003eby the resonance he could have told that they were traversing a much\u003cbr\u003elarger room. Dr. Ashton turned round in his chair as the door opened,\u003cbr\u003eand looked expectant. The incomer was a lady--a stout lady in the\u003cbr\u003edress of the time: though I have made some attempt at indicating the\u003cbr\u003edoctor's costume, I will not enterprise that of his wife--for it was\u003cbr\u003eMrs. Ashton who now entered. She had an anxious, even a sorely\u003cbr\u003edistracted, look, and it was in a very disturbed voice that she almost\u003cbr\u003ewhispered to Dr. Ashton, putting her head close to his, \"He's in a\u003cbr\u003every sad way, love, worse, I'm afraid.\" \"Tt--tt, is he really?\" and he\u003cbr\u003eleaned back and looked in her face. She nodded. Two solemn bells, high\u003cbr\u003eup, and not far away, rang out the half-hour at this moment. Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eAshton started. \"Oh, do you think you can give order that the minster\u003cbr\u003eclock be stopped chiming to-night? 'Tis just over his chamber, and\u003cbr\u003ewill keep him from sleeping, and to sleep is the only chance for him,\u003cbr\u003ethat's certain.\" \"Why, to be sure, if there were need, real need, it\u003cbr\u003ecould be done, but not upon any light occasion. This Frank, now, do\u003cbr\u003eyou assure me that his recovery stands upon it?\" said Dr. Ashton: his\u003cbr\u003evoice was loud and rather hard. \"I do verily believe it,\" said his\u003cbr\u003ewife. \"Then, if it must be, bid Molly run across to Simpkins and say\u003cbr\u003eon my authority that he is to stop the clock chimes at sunset:\u003cbr\u003eand--yes--she is after that to say to my lord Saul that I wish to see\u003cbr\u003ehim presently in this room.\" Mrs. Ashton hurried off.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47080160002288,"sku":"2940014584760","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014584760","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}