Before her was a hideous building, the colour of beef badly cooked, with grey stone streaks in it here and there and thin, narrow windows of grey glass with stiff, iron divisions between the glass.

The porch to the door was of the ugliest grey stone with "The Lord Cometh" in big black letters across the top of it.

Just inside the door was a muddy red mat, and near the mat stood a gentleman in a faded frock-coat and brown boots, an official apparently.

There arrived at the same time as Maggie and her aunts a number of ladies and gentlemen all hidden beneath umbrellas.

As they stood in the doorway a sudden scurry of wind and rain drove them all forward so that there was some crush and confusion in the little passage beyond the door.
Waterproofs steamed; umbrellas were ranged in dripping disorder against the wall.