“Ah yes! Well, the house is divided into what we call the west and the east wings,” the baron explained, leading the way out of the library and back into the ballroom. “They were built, as far as we are able to tell from what drawings remain from centuries past, at different times, or at least in their present form that is true. There seems to be a common foundation, and yet the many changes that were made over the years blur exactly how and in what order the construction was carried out. When we get to the second floor, you will immediately see evidence all about that its design is far different from either of the other two floors, leading me to the conclusion that the remodeling of its interior was carried out by a different one of my ancestors than these bottom two floors. In any event, the two wings were built so as to minimize contact between the two. In former days, the distinction between the nobles of aristocratic families such as ours and their servants was greater and of more consequence than it is to us today. Those who work for us now we consider friends, even part of our family to some extent. But it was not always so. Therefore the communication between the two wings was minimal, almost as if they were two separate houses. On this floor, for instance, the only way from the west wing to the east wing is exactly as we have come, through the ballroom. The ground floor originally had no communication whatsoever, but I had the wall opened up so that the corridor between kitchen and dining rooms extends straight through in both directions. And on the second floor—well, you shall see that presently!” he added with a grin, leading out of the ballroom and into the east wing.

Immediately they found themselves in narrower corridors with numerous doors on each side.

“Here are the servants’ rooms,” said the baron. “We’ll just go off to the right here a bit—most of our people, now that the staff is not so large, have rooms to themselves, and the stairs here—” he indicated the stairway they had just reached opening to the right off the hall—” go down to the ground floor into the sitting room and lounge, and near their dining room. But,” he added, turning back around, “let’s backtrack here and we’ll take the east stairs up to the second floor.”

So saying, he led them back the way they had come, then right, and, making a large, somewhat rectangular loop through the far eastern end of the wing, arrived at length at the east stairway, which led in both directions, both up and down.