{"product_id":"2940014593250","title":"THE DAMNED","description":"Chapter I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm over forty, Frances, and rather set in my ways,\" I said\u003cbr\u003egood-naturedly, ready to yield if she insisted that our going together\u003cbr\u003eon the visit involved her happiness. \"My work is rather heavy just now\u003cbr\u003etoo, as you know. The question is, could I work there--with a lot of\u003cbr\u003eunassorted people in the house?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Mabel doesn't mention any other people, Bill,\" was my sister's\u003cbr\u003erejoinder. \"I gather she's alone--as well as lonely.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the way she looked sideways out of the window at nothing, it was\u003cbr\u003eobvious she was disappointed, but to my surprise she did not urge the\u003cbr\u003epoint; and as I glanced at Mrs. Franklyn's invitation lying upon her\u003cbr\u003esloping lap, the neat, childish handwriting conjured up a mental picture\u003cbr\u003eof the banker's widow, with her timid, insignificant personality, her\u003cbr\u003epale grey eyes and her expression as of a backward child. I thought,\u003cbr\u003etoo, of the roomy country mansion her late husband had altered to suit\u003cbr\u003ehis particular needs, and of my visit to it a few years ago when its\u003cbr\u003ebarren spaciousness suggested a wing of Kensington Museum fitted up\u003cbr\u003etemporarily as a place to eat and sleep in. Comparing it mentally with\u003cbr\u003ethe poky Chelsea flat where I and my sister kept impecunious house, I\u003cbr\u003erealized other points as well. Unworthy details flashed across me to\u003cbr\u003eentice: the fine library, the organ, the quiet work-room I should have,\u003cbr\u003eperfect service, the delicious cup of early tea, and hot baths at any\u003cbr\u003emoment of the day--without a geyser!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's a longish visit, a month--isn't it?\" I hedged, smiling at the\u003cbr\u003edetails that seduced me, and ashamed of my man's selfishness, yet\u003cbr\u003eknowing that Frances expected it of me. \"There are points about it, I\u003cbr\u003eadmit. If you're set on my going with you, I could manage it all right.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI spoke at length in this way because my sister made no answer. I saw\u003cbr\u003eher tired eyes gazing into the dreariness of Oakley Street and felt a\u003cbr\u003epang strike through me. After a pause, in which again she said no word,\u003cbr\u003eI added: \"So, when you write the letter, you might hint, perhaps, that I\u003cbr\u003eusually work all the morning, and--er--am not a very lively visitor!\u003cbr\u003eThen she'll understand, you see.\" And I half-rose to return to my\u003cbr\u003ediminutive study, where I was slaving, just then, at an absorbing\u003cbr\u003earticle on Comparative Aesthetic Values in the Blind and Deaf.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47074019541232,"sku":"2940014593250","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014593250","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}