The shadow beneath the door

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Eleanor carried the household ledger into her uncle’s study. At first glance, the room possessed its usual severe calm: the curtains hung straight, the fire was cold and three pens lay exactly level beside the inkstand. She crossed towards the desk, and grit cracked beneath her shoe.

A trail of dark, wet grains marked the carpet from the doorway to her uncle’s chair. Eleanor remembered the morning rain and told herself that the maid must have entered. Yet the maid’s brush would not have left such a trail. One corner of the blotting paper had been lifted, exposing a clean square on the dusty leather beneath it. The room smelt faintly of wet wool.

Behind her, the latch gave a careful click. Eleanor turned. The door, which she had left resting against the wall, was almost closed.

“Is anyone there?”

No one answered. For a moment, a narrow shadow darkened the strip of light beneath the door. Then it slid away.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to show Eleanor’s growing suspicion that she is not alone. Support your answer with references to the passage.