And he gathered up all the traditions of the Monte Beni family, and, among the rest, the sad one which I told you at the fountain the other day.

He had known mighty poets, he said, in his earlier life; and the most illustrious of them would have rejoiced to preserve such a legend in immortal rhyme,--especially if he could have had some of our wine of Sunshine to help out his inspiration!" "Any man might be a poet, as well as Byron, with such wine and such a theme," rejoined the sculptor.

"But shall we climb your tower The thunder-storm gathering yonder among the hills will be a spectacle worth witnessing." "Come, then," said the Count, adding, with a sigh, "it has a weary staircase, and dismal chambers, and it is very lonesome at the summit!" "Like a man's life, when he has climbed to eminence," remarked the sculptor; "or, let us rather say, with its difficult steps, and the dark prison cells you speak of, your tower resembles the spiritual experience of many a sinful soul, which, nevertheless, may struggle upward into the pure air and light of Heaven at last!" Donatello sighed again, and led the way up into the tower.
Mounting the broad staircase that ascended from the entrance hall, they traversed the great wilderness of a house, through some obscure passages, and came to a low, ancient doorway.

It admitted them to a narrow turret stair which zigzagged upward, lighted in its progress by loopholes and iron-barred windows.

Reaching the top of the first flight, the Count threw open a door of worm-eaten oak, and disclosed a chamber that occupied the whole area of the tower.