
Part 1
A desperate salesman narrates his frantic scramble for a fortune tied to the newly discovered planet Balsavius Six. He believes a modest investment could multiply his wealth, but his mother‑in‑law, a wealthy and stubborn matriarch, blocks the path. Their strained relationship and her control over the family’s finances push him toward a dark, calculated solution.
Obsessed with finding a “clean” method, he rejects blunt weapons and searches for a subtle poison that would go unnoticed. While wandering the eclectic streets of Greenwich Village, he stumbles into a bizarre jewelry shop run by a bearded merchant whose alien heritage hints at hidden resources. The shop’s uncanny wares and the proprietor’s mysterious aura suggest a possible shortcut to the lethal means he craves. As he weighs his options, the line between ambition and morality begins to blur, setting the stage for a tense, morally charged gamble.
Language
en
Duration
~21 minutes (20K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Great American Publications, Inc., 1960.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2023-02-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1911–1981
A prolific mid-20th-century writer, he moved easily between pulp paperbacks, nonfiction, and screen work. His life included years teaching overseas and surviving wartime internment in Hong Kong, experiences that later fed into his writing.
View all books
by Vinceslas-Eugène Dick

by Philippe Aubert de Gaspé

by Abraham Cahan

by Eliza Fowler Haywood

by Pauline E. (Pauline Elizabeth) Hopkins

by Laure Conan

by George Sand