ecause she could hear voices and the
clinking of glasses, but, in spite of those sounds the house seemed
very dead. Through the walls and rooms she could hear the pounding beat
of the sea. She walked to the end of the passage and there found an old
wrinkled man in riding breeches and a brightly-coloured check shirt.

"Can you tell me where a gentleman, Mr. Cardinal, is staying?" she
asked.

He was obviously very deaf; she had to shout. She repeated her
question, adding. "He came from London to-day."

A stout middle-aged woman appeared. "What is it?" she asked. "The old
man's stone deaf. He can't hear at all."

"I was wondering," said Maggie, "whether you could tell me where I
could find a Mr. Cardinal. He came down from London to-day and is
staying here."

"Cardinal ... Cardinal?" The woman thought, scratching her head. "Was
it Caldwell you meant?"

"No," said Maggie. "Cardinal."

"I'll go and see." The woman disappeared, whilst the old man brushed
past Maggie as though she were a piece of furniture; he departed on
some secret purpose of his own.

"What a horrible place!" thought Maggie. "Uncle must be in a bad way if
he comes here. I never should sleep for the noise of the sea."

The woman returned. "Yes. 'E's here. No. 5. Come this afternoon. Up the
stairs and second door on the right."

The stairs to which she pointed offered a gulf of darkness. The woman
was gone. The noises from the bar had ceased. The only sound in the
place was the thundering of the sea, roaring, as it seemed, at the very
foot of the house.

Maggie climbed the stairs. Half-way up she was compelled to pause. The
darkness blinded her; she had lost the reflection from the lamp below
and, above her, there was no light at all. She advanced slowly, step by
step, feeling her way with a hand on the rickety bannisters. At the top
of the stair there was a gleam of light and, turning to the right, she
knocked on the second door. There was no answer and she knocked again.
Listening, the noise of the sea was now so violent that she fancied
that she might not have heard the answer so she turned the handle of
the door and pushed it open. She was met then by a gale of wind, a rush
of the sea that seemed as imminent as though she were on the shore
itself and a dim grey light that revealed nothing in the room to her
but only shapes and shadows.

She knew at once that the windows must be wide open; she could hear
some papers rustling and something o