{"product_id":"2940015763140","title":"Priestess of the Flame","description":"I have been rather amused by the protests which have come to me\u003cbr\u003eregarding the \"disparaging\" comments I have made, in previous tales of\u003cbr\u003ethe Special Patrol Service, regarding women. The rather surprising\u003cbr\u003ething about it is that the larger proportion of these have come from\u003cbr\u003emen. Young men, of course.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, as a matter of fact, a careful search has failed to reveal to me\u003cbr\u003eany very uncomplimentary remarks. I have suggested, I believe, that\u003cbr\u003ewomen have, in my experience, shown a sad lack of ability to\u003cbr\u003eunderstand mechanical contrivances. Perhaps I have pictured some few\u003cbr\u003eof them as frivolous and shallow. If I have been unfair, I wish now to\u003cbr\u003emake humble apology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am not, as some of my correspondents have indicated, a bitter old\u003cbr\u003eman, who cannot remember his youth. I remember it very well indeed,\u003cbr\u003eelse these tales would not be forthcoming. And women have their great\u003cbr\u003eand proper place, even in a man's universe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome day, perhaps, the mood will seize me to write of my own love\u003cbr\u003eaffair. That surprises you? You smile to think that old John Hanson,\u003cbr\u003elately a commander of the Special Patrol Service, now retired, should\u003cbr\u003ehave had a love affair? Well, 'twas many years ago, before these eyes\u003cbr\u003elost their fire, and before these brown, skinny hands wearied as\u003cbr\u003equickly as they weary now....\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut I have known many women--good women and bad; great women and women\u003cbr\u003eof small souls; kindly women, and women fierce as wild bears are\u003cbr\u003efierce. Divinity has dealt lavishly with women; has given them an\u003cbr\u003eemotional range far greater than man's. They can sink to depths\u003cbr\u003eunknown to masculinity; they can rise to heights of love and sacrifice\u003cbr\u003ebefore which man can only stand with reverently bowed head and marvel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a story of a woman--one of those no man could know and not\u003cbr\u003eremember. I make no apologies for her; I pay her no homage. I record\u003cbr\u003eonly a not inaccurate account of an adventure of my youth, in which\u003cbr\u003eshe played a part; I leave to you the task of judging her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e       *       *       *       *       *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe were some three days out from Base, as I recall it, on a mission\u003cbr\u003ewhich promised a welcome interlude in a monotonous sequence of routine\u003cbr\u003epatrols. I was commander then of the _Ertak_, one of the crack ships\u003cbr\u003eof the Service, and assisted by the finest group of officers, I\u003cbr\u003ebelieve, that any man ever had under him.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47074310947056,"sku":"2940015763140","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015763140","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}