The Secretary in the Dark

A dark lecture hall in Paris on a March evening, wood-panelled walls, gas lamps turned low, rows of gentlemen in dark frock coats seen from directly behind, on a white cloth screen ahead a small blurred moving picture in silver-grey tones of workers streaming out through a wide factory gate, beside the last row on a small table a wooden box camera with a brass lens and a side crank throwing a beam of white light over the heads, a man's back at the crank, beside him a young woman of twenty-one seen from directly behind, her face turned fully away toward the screen, dark hair pinned up, a dark high-collared dress.