The observation book

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Professor Wray kept the observatory key on a chain inside his waistcoat. Ellen was permitted to copy his columns of figures, since her handwriting was neat, but he operated the telescope himself. When she once asked to check a reading, he told her that instruments required experience and that enthusiasm was no substitute for it.

One November evening, Ellen placed three pages beside his lamp. A faint point of light had appeared in a different position on each of the previous nights. Wray barely looked at the pages. He blamed a scratch on the lens and called the object ‘your wandering speck’. Ellen did not argue. She had drawn a small table showing where the light should appear that night if its movement continued.

Wray cleaned the lens and fitted another eyepiece. The point remained. At ten o’clock, it appeared within the narrow space Ellen had marked. He checked the telescope’s mechanism, then asked her to read each number aloud while he wrote it down. When she corrected one of his entries, he examined the scale again before drawing a line through his own figure.

At dawn, Wray began a report to the astronomical society. He first wrote, ‘My assistant has noticed’, but replaced the words with, ‘Miss Ellen Hart and I have observed’. He refused to call the light a discovery until further observations had been made, and crossed that word from the heading. Before leaving to sleep, however, he unhooked the observatory key and laid it beside Ellen’s open book. ‘We shall begin again at nine,’ he said.

“Professor Wray’s growing respect for Ellen is presented convincingly because it is earned through evidence rather than offered out of politeness.”

Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.