broken, brick-colour, burned by the sun, gave
him an impression of the strength of the past. There were no trees, no
houses near them; as if those imposing ruins precluded any life round
about. Only one humble almond-tree held out its white flowers.

Don Calixto and the Canon continued chatting.

XXII. SENTIMENTALITY AND ARCHEOLOGY

Don Calixto and the Canon went away to Spain. Caesar thought he was
wasting time in Rome and that he ought to get out, but he remained. He
kept wondering why Susanna Marchmont had left and never written him.

Twice he asked about her at the Hotel Excelsior, and was told that she
had not returned.

One evening at the beginning of May, when he had managed to decide to
pack up and go, he received a card from Susanna, telling him of her
arrival and inviting him to have tea at the _Ristorante del Castello dei
Cesari._

Caesar immediately left the hotel and took a cab, which carried him to
the top of the Aventine Hill.

He got out at the entrance to the garden of the _Ristorante_, went
across it, and out on a large terrace.

There were a number of Americans having tea, and in one group of them
was Susanna.

"How late you come!" she said.

"I have just received your card. And what did you do in Corfu? How did
things go down there?"

"Very well indeed. It is all wonderful. And I have been in Epirus and
Albania, too."

Susanna related her impressions of those countries, with many details,
which, surely, she had read in Baedeker.

She was very smart, and prettier than ever. She said her husband must be
in London; she had had no news from him for more than a month. "And how
did you know I was still here?" Caesar asked her.

"Through Kennedy. He wrote to me. He is a good friend. He talked a lot
about you in his letters."

Caesar thought he noticed that Susanna talked with more enthusiasm than
ordinarily. Perhaps distance had produced a similar effect on her
to what wondering about her had on him. Caesar looked at her almost
passionately.

From the terrace one could see the tragic ruins of the Palace of the
Caesars; broken arcades covered with grass, remains of walls still
standing, the openings of arches and windows, and here and there a
pointed cypress or a stone pine among the great devastated walls.

Far away one could see the country, Frascati, and the blue mountains of
the distance.

As it was already late, the group of Susanna's American friends decided
to return