{"product_id":"2940149050604","title":"Mrs. Severn, Vol. 1 (of 3) (Illustrated)","description":"'It's very good of you to have met me, Ambrose.'\u003cbr\u003e'But very unnecessary?'\u003cbr\u003eMr. Severn laughed consciously, but re-covered himself by spreading his broad palm below his nostrils, and smoothing, with a slow downward movement, the close-cut moustache and beard that concealed his lips and chin. It was a new habit, but the growth also was new, and Ambrose was surprised to find that it took ten years from his age.\u003cbr\u003e'Well, you know I told you not to meet me.'\u003cbr\u003e[Pg 2] 'You did, and you don't say for civility's sake what you don't mean. There are some folk who believe in a system of formal introductions in Heaven itself. If you'd wished for company to St. Brelade's you would have left the point to my notions of propriety. However, I'll reassure you. I am going into town with the returning train.'\u003cbr\u003e'I'll wait and see you off.'\u003cbr\u003e'And do as you please about driving. If you prefer to walk, the dog-cart will wait for me.'\u003cbr\u003e'Thanks, I should prefer to walk,' said Mr. Severn.\u003cbr\u003eThey had reached the end of the platform and now turned back towards the bay. Its waves were tossing with spray-crested edges into which gulls with the sun on their wings were dipping. In the distance a vista of sun-rays streamed over St. Helier's, lying low along the shore with its fortified heights in shadow against the blackness of a storm sweeping [Pg 3] up from the West. It was high tide, and Elizabeth Castle was surrounded by a rolling sea. A curve of yellow sand, with here and there a martello tower, marked the coast-line. The air was full of the rush of the waves and the sough of a rising wind.\u003cbr\u003e'If ever I marry, I don't think I shall act on your experience of the previous forty hours,' said Ambrose Piton, as they strolled back to the train with a few more leisurely people. 'A drive of five miles from your Yorkshire moors at Old Lafer to the nearest station, Wonston, I suppose—a rush down England to Southampton, ten hours' pitching in a dirty sea, by our caterpillar of a train to St. Aubin's here, and finally a three miles' walk. By Jove, you must be feeling rather done up.'\u003cbr\u003e'Oh no, I'm accustomed to such journeys. I did precisely the same with the exception of this final walk when I came out to Jersey [Pg 4] five months ago and had the good fortune to fall in with Miss Hugo. You'll probably not be a man of fifty, overwhelmed with other people's business, when you marry, Ambrose. It's this walk to Rocozanne that amuses you,' he added, with a genial smile. 'You think it inconsistent with a lover's ardour that I should not go as fast as your good mare would take me. The truth is, I want an hour's leisure. When one marries a second time and is my age, and it is a young girl who is good enough to take one, the responsibilities are much greater than when two young people marry; one has more misgiving, you know, about one's wife being happy. Since I won Clothilde I have scarcely had time to realise my good fortune. Through this journey I've struggled with correspondence that would be arrears of work if left over next week. And now a walk will freshen me up and adjust my thoughts to a proper balance, since to-morrow, please God, I [Pg 5] shall be married. My age must be the excuse for what yours takes for lukewarmness.'\u003cbr\u003e'I don't think you lukewarm,' said Piton bluntly. 'But I'll tell you what, sir, you at fifty are more simple-minded than I at twenty-five.'\u003cbr\u003e'Simple-minded? How? I don't understand.'\u003cbr\u003e'You call a spade a spade and you think it is one,' said Piton lamely, yet with a desperate resolution that showed a serious undercurrent of thought.\u003cbr\u003e'Of course, being straightforward. You would yourself.'\u003cbr\u003e'Oh, certainly,' said Piton with trepidation. 'Here comes the engine,' he added with awkward haste as he jumped on to the train.\u003cbr\u003e'One moment—how is she?'\u003cbr\u003e'Clothilde? Very well.'\u003cbr\u003e'And Anna? It's very good of you and Mr. Piton to let us carry little Anna off.'\u003cbr\u003e[Pg 6]\u003cbr\u003e'Yes it is,' said Piton. 'But they've never been separated though they're only half-sisters. And though Anna's my father's niece and Clothilde is not, and we should like to have her at Rocozanne, we know she'll be better with a woman; and as we've only servants about, it seems right that she should go with Clothilde. But my father has explained all this,' he added, smiling. 'It's a bit of a sore point, we begrudge her to you.'\u003cbr\u003e'She must come often to Rocozanne.'\u003cbr\u003e'Of course. Now we're off. Don't miss your road.'\u003cbr\u003e'I know the short cuts,' said Mr. Severn, as he turned away. Piton laughed and waved his hand. Then as he leant forward and watched him walk up the platform, his face became serious. He was a good-looking young fellow. Judging from his usual expression of easy good-nature, the lines of his life had fallen in pleasant places. But [Pg 7] now he wore a look that passed from pain to disgust and resentment.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Lost Leaf Publications","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079399358704,"sku":"2940149050604","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940149050604_p0.jpg?v=1763712008","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940149050604","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}