He opened the gates, which were not locked, and entered the court-yard. A huge Newfoundland dog who had been lying on the grass rose slowly when he heard the gates grating on their hinges, and came up to Oswald wagging his tail. "Well, here at least I meet with a kindly welcome," said the young man to himself, caressing the enormous animal. On the right hand he noticed a bright garden, separated by a low fence, in a line with the front of the mansion. It was a low house of two stories, very simple, but rather picturesque, thanks to a massive stone balcony over the front-door, and two superb linden-trees just in front. The three other sides of the large square were filled with offices and farm-buildings. A low fence and a row of dwarf fruit-trees formed a line of division between the court-yard and the lawn immediately before the house. As Oswald walked along the front of the house, he saw the high windows open; but there seemed to be nobody in the fine rooms beyond. The front-door was also open, and allowed him to look into a noble hall with a floor of colored marble. A large hall-clock alone broke the deep silence with its slow ticking. The court-yard even was buried in silence. The whole place looked deserted, and only the sparrows were twittering and making quite a noise in the linden-trees, and the swallows flitted low under the eaves to their young in the nests, and then as swiftly shot back again for more food. "There is probably no one at home," thought Oswald. "You have made the long journey for nothing. Or can you perhaps tell me where your mistress is, my good dog? Shall we look in the garden?" The dog looked as if he had understood Oswald's question, and trotted off towards a gate close by the house, which evidently led into the garden; there he stopped and looked round at the stranger. "Then she is in the garden?" Oswald opened the gate. The dog ran before him past a number of flower-beds into a narrow walk with hedges on either side, down to a flight of steps, which led through the hedge upon a kind of terrace. There he once more looked round at Oswald. Then he ran up the steps. Oswald followed.