The whole ground floor was stabling, room and to spare for half a hundred horses, and filled frequently enough, no doubt, in the great days of the Great Henry.

On the first floor, to which three or four staircases gave access, there were plenty of apartments; indeed, suites of them.

But nearly all stood empty, and the row of windows looked blank and curtainless across the crumbling garden to the Italian house.
It was one of the many tragedies of that smiling, sunny land where only man, it seems, is vile; for nature has enclosed within its frontier-lines all the varied wealth and beauty of her treasures.
Marie led the way up the first staircase, which was straight and narrow.

The carpet, carefully rolled and laid aside on the landing, was threadbare and colourless.

The muslin curtains, folded back and pinned together, were darned and yellow with frequent washing and the rust of ancient damp.