The photographer’s studio

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

For the first minute, Eleanor was pleased to be alone. Mr Wray had disappeared through the narrow door behind the curtain, carrying the glass plate as carefully as a tray of water. “Count slowly to sixty,” he had said. “I shall return before you finish.”

Eleanor counted. At thirty, she straightened the lace at her wrist. At fifty, she examined the painted garden behind her chair and noticed that its trees had no shadows. At sixty, she folded her hands again. The door remained closed.

Daylight drained steadily from the skylight. Without Mr Wray beside it, the camera no longer looked like an ordinary machine. Its polished lens regarded her like one enormous black eye. Eleanor turned her chair a little so that she did not have to face it.

“Mr Wray?”

Her voice travelled behind the curtain and returned smaller. She rose, crossed the studio and pressed the handle of the narrow door. It moved halfway, then stopped. Something had been placed against it on the other side.

Eleanor called again, louder. This time, the reply came from the studio itself: a faint rustle behind her. She turned. The heavy cloth covering the camera lifted at one corner and sank again.

There was no open window, and the air around her was perfectly still. Eleanor took one step towards the camera. From beneath the black cloth came a low, patient cough.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to show Eleanor’s growing unease. Support your answer with references to the passage.