Dearest

Beam Piper H.

Description

In this gripping tale of the supernatural, H. Beam Paper strays from the bleakly imagined futures that form the backdrop of most of his stories and focuses instead on a strange spiritual connection that spans centuries. The twist ending will leave readers guessing until the very last page.

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776589937
• Langue: English

Extrait

DEAREST
* * *
H. BEAM PIPER
 
*
Dearest First published in 1951 Epub ISBN 978-1-77658-993-7 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77658-994-4 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Dearest
*
Colonel Ashley Hampton chewed his cigar and forced himself to relax, hisglance slowly traversing the room, lingering on the mosaic ofbook-spines in the tall cases, the sunlight splashed on the faded pastelcolors of the carpet, the soft-tinted autumn landscape outside theFrench windows, the trophies of Indian and Filipino and German weaponson the walls. He could easily feign relaxation here in the library of"Greyrock," as long as he looked only at these familiar inanimatethings and avoided the five people gathered in the room with him, forall of them were enemies.
There was his nephew, Stephen Hampton, greying at the temples butyouthfully dressed in sports-clothes, leaning with obvious if slightlypremature proprietorship against the fireplace, a whiskey-and-soda inhis hand. There was Myra, Stephen's smart, sophisticated-looking blondewife, reclining in a chair beside the desk. For these two, he felt animplacable hatred. The others were no less enemies, perhaps moredangerous enemies, but they were only the tools of Stephen and Myra. Forinstance, T. Barnwell Powell, prim and self-satisfied, sitting on theedge of his chair and clutching the briefcase on his lap as though itwere a restless pet which might attempt to escape. He was an honest man,as lawyers went; painfully ethical. No doubt he had convinced himselfthat his clients were acting from the noblest and most disinterestedmotives. And Doctor Alexis Vehrner, with his Vandyke beard and hisViennese accent as phony as a Soviet-controlled election, who hadpreempted the chair at Colonel Hampton's desk. That rankled the oldsoldier, but Doctor Vehrner would want to assume the position whichwould give him appearance of commanding the situation, and he probablyfelt that Colonel Hampton was no longer the master of "Greyrock." Thefifth, a Neanderthal type in a white jacket, was Doctor Vehrner'sattendant and bodyguard; he could be ignored, like an enlisted manunthinkingly obeying the orders of a superior.
"But you are not cooperating, Colonel Hampton," the psychiatristcomplained. "How can I help you if you do not cooperate?"
Colonel Hampton took the cigar from his mouth. His white mustache,tinged a faint yellow by habitual smoking, twitched angrily.
"Oh; you call it helping me, do you?" he asked acidly.
"But why else am I here?" the doctor parried.
"You're here because my loving nephew and his charming wife can't waitto see me buried in the family cemetery; they want to bury me alive inthat private Bedlam of yours," Colonel Hampton replied.
"See!" Myra Hampton turned to the psychiatrist. "We are persecuting him! We are all envious of him! We are plotting against him!"
"Of course; this sullen and suspicious silence is a common paranoidsymptom; one often finds such symptoms in cases of senile dementia,"Doctor Vehrner agreed.