Excerpt from The Yellow God: An Idol of Africa<br><br>Sir Robert Aylward sat in his own quiet room at the back of this enduring building, a Very splendid room that any Secretary of State might have envied, but arranged in excellent taste. Its walls were panelled with figured teak, a rich carpet made the footfall noiseless, an antique Venus stood upon a marble pedestal in the corner, and over the mantel piece hung a fine portrait by Gainsborough, that of a certain Miss Aylward, a famous beauty in her day, with whom, be it added, its present owner could boast no connection whatsoever.<br><br>Sir Robert was seated at his ebony desk playing with a pencil, and the light from a cheerful fire fell upon his face.<br><br>In its own way it was a remarkable face, as he appeared then in his four and fortieth year; very pale, but with a natural pallor, very well cut, and on the whole impressive. His eyes were dark.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.