I tried it, setting my teeth.

"Here goes!" "It came open quite easily.

And lo! the place it opened into was hardly any bigger than a cupboard.

Anyhow it wasn't more than ten feet by twelve; and as I in a way expected to see the big shadowy cellar-like extent of the Shipping Office where I had been once or twice before, I was extremely startled.

A gas bracket hung from the middle of the ceiling over a dark, shabby writing-desk covered with a litter of yellowish dusty documents.