I had hoped that I should enter the house by this side of it.

But no.

The boy--after appearing to be at a loss what to do with me--led the way to a door on the modern side of the building, and rang the bell.
A slovenly young maid-servant admitted me to the house.
Possibly, this person was new to the duty of receiving visitors.
Possibly, she was bewildered by a sudden invasion of children in dirty frocks, darting out on us in the hall, and then darting away again into invisible back regions, screeching at the sight of a stranger.

At any rate, she too appeared to be at a loss what to do with me.

After staring hard at my foreign face, she suddenly opened a door in the wall of the passage, and admitted me into a small room.