It let me into a six-feet wide strip between a long counter and the wall, taken off a spacious, vaulted room with a grated window and a glazed door giving daylight to the further end.

The first thing I saw right in front of me were three middle-aged men having a sort of romp together round about another fellow with a thin, long neck and sloping shoulders who stood up at a desk writing on a large sheet of paper and taking no notice except that he grinned quietly to himself.
They turned very sour at once when they saw me.

I heard one of them mutter 'Hullo! What have we here ?' "'I want to see Mr.Powell, please,' I said, very civil but firm; I would let nothing scare me away now.

This was the Shipping Office right enough.

It was after 3 o'clock and the business seemed over for the day with them.