He knew now that he was affianced to the one maiden in the world quite after his own heart.
III The paternal villa of Drusus lay on the lower part of the slope of the Praeneste citadel, facing the east.

It was a genuine country and farming estate--not a mere refuge from the city heat and hubbub.

The Drusi had dwelt on it for generations, and Quintus had spent his boyhood upon it.

The whole mass of farm land was in the very pink of cultivation.

There were lines of stately old elms enclosing the estate; and within, in regular sequence, lay vineyards producing the rather poor Praeneste wine, olive orchards, groves of walnut trees, and many other fruits.