Maggie found Turnstall's, its shop lit and Mr.Turnstall himself, stout and red-faced, behind his bloody counter.She went in and asked him where "The Sea Dog" might be.He explained to her that it was close at hand, on the right, looking over the Promenade.She found it at last because it had an old-fashioned creaking wooden sign with a blue sailor painted on it.Timidly she stepped into the dark uneven passage.To the right of her she could see a deserted room with wooden trestles and a table.The bar must be near because 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 Icould 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.