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With the exception of the small and narros, which were protected

by iron bars, and the staircase of slate which gave ad remarkable, unless it were two round turrets,

which rose above the surrounding roofs and even above the gigantic trees

in its vicinity

The garden had been evidently long neglected, for all the walks were

covered eeds, and in the flower-beds were the half decayed props

which had supported the plants of the previous autumn The statues were

spotted by the dust and rain; a fine moss covered thein the pond was stagnant

These evidences of the absence ofuntriave a

mournful air of abandonment to the place, and in this solitude the soul

was necessarily filled with painful reflections

It was already late in the afternoon; the sun was about to sink below the

horizon, its slanting rays illumined only the weathercocks on the top of

the towers Within the thickets and at the entrance of the grottos, night

already reigned Not the slightest sound was heard in this place The

noise of the people at work in the city resounded in the air, the chi

of the church-bells afted fro; but as no sound arose from the habitation itself, the distant

hum from an active multitude rendered the silence of the spot all the