Shadows of the Silver Screen Read Online Free PDF Page A

with what seemed like a foreign accent.
    “I’ve come for what is rightfully mine!”
    Wigram raised his hand to knock on the door, but she quickly motioned for her guardian to wait.
    Another voice was raised in reply, and Penelope recognised the smooth tones of Mr Gold now transformed into a snarl.
    “You signed the contract – that camera is
mine
. Now get out of my office before I have the constabulary remove you!”
    There came the sound of a muffled curse followed by heavy footsteps, and Penny quickly stepped back from the door before it was flung open. A man wearing a shabby grey blazer stood framed in the doorway. He was in his early thirties, his dark-brown hair cut short in the continental style, whilst his pointed beard gave his face a sharp expression. He glared at them over his half-moon spectacles.
    “I’m terribly sorry, sir,” Penelope began. “We’ve come to see Mr Gold.”
    The man’s eyes filled with venom.
    “
Zut pour vous!
” he spat, brushing past Penny with a snarl and stomping off down the corridor.
    “What a nerve,” Monty began, shaking his fist at the departing figure. “I’ve a good mind to—”
    Ignoring Monty’s bluster, Penelope knocked lightly on the now open door. Inside the office, she could see Miss Mottram cowering behind a desk piled high with papers, and at Penny’s knock, the secretary turned in fear towards the door. Spotting Monty and Wigram standing by Penny’s side, she quickly rose to her feet and hurried towards them.
    “Mr Flinch,” she squeaked, holding the office door open. “What an honour to see you here, sir. Please, do all come in.”
    Monty bowed his head in greeting as he entered the office, with Penny and her guardian following closely behind. With a nervous glance into the corridor, Miss Mottram shut the door firmly behind them.
    Casting her eyes around the room, Penelope took this opportunity to inspect the offices of the Alchemical Moving Picture Company. At first glance, her impression was not a favourable one. Apart from a couple of peeling posters advertising five shilling box cameras, the walls of the cramped room were bare with not even a window to let in the daylight. The room was lit by a foul-smelling gaslight that hung from the low ceiling. In front of the secretary’s desk was a plain wooden chair, and the only hint of luxury came from the leather-upholstered armchair in the opposite corner of the room, from which Mr Gold now rose.
    The easy charm of his smile curling his lips, Gold stepped towards Monty and clasped his hand in his own. No sign now of the anger Penelope had heard in his voice through the glass.
    “Mr Flinch!” exclaimed the filmmaker. “How good of you to grace us with your esteemed presence.” Releasing Monty’s hand, he gestured apologetically at their poky surrounds. “I’m only sorry that our current premises aren’t as steeped in literary history as your fine offices at
The Penny Dreadful
. However, in time I’m sure this address will hold a similar lustre as the place where the film career of Montgomery Flinch was launched.”
    Monty beamed in delight; fresh thoughts of film stardom beginning to bloom inside his mind. However, the sound of a cough behind him quickly punctured these dreams.
    “That is yet to be agreed, Mr Gold,” said Wigram as he appeared at Monty’s side. “Mr Flinch would first need to see proof of these grandiose claims you have made for your new invention.” The lawyer glanced around the office, a look of haughty suspicion in his gaze. “Does this ‘Véritéscope’ even exist yet?”
    Smoothing his whiskers, Gold nodded his head.
    “Of course, I quite understand,” he replied. “Indeed, I am as eager to show you the wonders of the Véritéscope as you are to see them and have taken the liberty of filming a short scene from the story. Once you have observed the remarkable power of this medium, I am sure you’ll appreciate what a sensation a moving picture of
The Daughter of