“- Please sit down.Marie Laurent sank into a deep leather chair.While Professor Kern opened the envelope and read the letter, she glanced around the office.What a dark room! But it’s good to study here: nothing distracts attention. A lamp with a deaf lampshade illuminates only the desk, littered with books, manuscripts, and proofreading prints. The eye can barely make out solid black oak furniture. Dark wallpaper, dark draperies. Only the gold of the embossed bindings in the heavy cupboards gleams in the semi-darkness. The long pendulum of an old wall clock moves measuredly and smoothly…”