Nor Dust Corrupt

Nor Dust Corrupt

The room seemed more a mausoleum than an office, but that was as had been intended. Perhaps thirty feet high, fifty feet wide, it stretched a good hundred feet in length. It was paneled entirely in jet black onyx, which gave a sense of infinity to it. The floor was a thick lawn of heavy black pile carpeting. Only two areas of the room offered mitigation to this oppressive gloom. Just past the middle, bathed in a haze of light, was placed a large black desk, and behind it sat a man. At the far end of the room, slightly elevated, was an alabaster statue, an abstraction of incredible beauty and poignancy. The statue too was wrapped in a soft nimbus. Few visitors to this room ever had to be told the title of this work of art, for its meaning was apparent in its every lineBereavement. The man behind the big black desk belonged to the room as much as did the onyx walls, the thick carpet or the alabaster statue. Without the presence of this man the chamber seemed strangely empty, strangely morbid, and few of the man's associates cared to remain in the room when he was not there. Somehow the warm air of benevolence to be found in his fair, pinkish face softened the harsh somberness of the appointments, while the gentle strength in his dark and mournful eyes gave amelioration to the atmosphere of despair. His job was to be a Janus, looking from the cheery rubric of today towards the unknown but dimmer colors of tomorrowto be a bridge between present pleasures and future fears. There was no better man for the task in all the Galaxy than Consolator Steen. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 59703
Author: McConnell, James V.
Release Date: Jun 8, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Finlay, Virgil, 1914-1971