Page 157 - The Grotesque Children's Book

shouted the Doctor several times a day to no one, at no one. He wished he had been one of the
lucky few scientists whose offices had been the first to see the reconstructing, who had therefore,
been scuttled to the quieter west wing to continue work in peace. But, no, Dr. Valerius’s office
was, most unfortunately, literally directly in the middle of the long long hallway on the east side
of the corridor -- it was on the east side of the east corridor where much of the construction was
now in earnest, fairly directly across the hallway from his own office. He had to stoop
underneath scaffolding in order to slip through his office doorway; the ceiling painters were at
work on the frescoes just outside his office. The smell of their paint, the dust from their fresco-
plaster mixing, the clank-clank-clanking up and down the scaffolding all day, each and every
day...well, all of it made focus on his scientific very difficult indeed. Not to mention the worry
of all the dust in the air contaminating his glass vessels and skewing his scientific results. He
was worried he was going to fail at keeping Lady Bianca healthy. And if you fail a Duke...well,
you just don’t fail a Duke.

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