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BOOK EXCERPT : THE FAROUCHE ASSEMBLAGE
Having made an immense fortune amid the commercial frenzy that characterized
life in the Canton of Zeel, the magnate Paddachau Chin retired to his secluded
family estate in the County of Ambrou, where his singular collection of artworks
became the chief jewel of his reputation. The incomparability of the Chin Collection
was universally agreed, though there could be no certainty as to how many of
Chin's wide circle of acquaintances had been permitted the unequalled pleasure
of viewing them. Those who whispered that they had been afforded the uncommon
privilege would say no more; they had sworn to keep silent.
Luff Imbry's encounters with art centered mainly on its traffic, especially
when that trade was diverted through the more ombrous avenues of the ancient
city of Olkney. Under Imbry's hand, works passed quietly from their previous
owners to their next, inconvenient questions were left unvoiced and the
new possessor was as unlikely to advertise his acquisition as Chin's visitors
were to burble about whatever glories they might have seen.
Chin's miserly sequestration of so many exquisite pieces offended Imbry's
sense of how things ought to be in a well ordered universe, namely that
valuable goods existed to be appreciated by those who could afford to pay
Luff Imbry to provide them. His was a rich and comprehensive philosophy,
with many corollaries and axioms involving the iniquity of locks and the
virtue inherent in weaving ways around watchmen and other obstructions.
He resolved to teach Chin a moral lesson by transferring as many as possible
of his possessions to grateful hands. The lesson would be all the more
pointed for those hands being connected to some of the magnate's circle
who had long and vainly sought an invitation to view them.
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