I made my way to it at once, for as yet I had never been near it.

Hitherto my excursions had been limited to the Castle and its many gardens and surroundings.

It was of a style with which I was not familiar--with four wings to the points of the compass.

The great doorway, set in a magnificent frontage of carved stone of manifestly ancient date, faced west, so that, when one entered, he went east.

To my surprise--for somehow I expected the contrary--I found the door open.
Not wide open, but what is called ajar--manifestly not locked or barred, but not sufficiently open for one to look in.