went together to Sallust's House. It stood in the midst of
an acre of land, waste except a little kitchen garden at the rear. The
lodge at the entrance was uninhabited, and the gates stood open, with
dust and fallen leaves heaped up against them. Free ingress had thus
been afforded to two stray ponies, a goat, and a tramp, who lay asleep
in the grass. His wife sat near, watching him.

"I have a mind to turn back," said Sir Charles, looking about him in
disgust. "The place is scandalously neglected. Look at that rascal
asleep within full view of the windows."

"I admire his cheek," said Erskine. "Nice pair of ponies, too."

Sallust's House was square and painted cinnamon color. Beneath the
cornice was a yellow frieze with figures of dancing children, imitated
from the works of Donatello, and very unskilfully executed. There was
a meagre portico of four columns, painted red, and a plain pediment,
painted yellow. The colors, meant to match those of the walls,
contrasted disagreeably with them, having been applied more recently,
apparently by a color-blind artist. The door beneath the portico stood
open. Sir Charles rang the bell, and an elderly woman answered it; but
before they could address her, Trefusis appeared, clad in a painter's
jacket of white jean. Following him in, they found that the house was a
hollow square, enclosing a courtyard with a bath sunk in the middle, and
a fountain in the centre of the bath. The courtyard, formerly open to
the sky, was now roofed in with dusty glass; the nymph that had once
poured out the water of the fountain was barren and mutilated; and
the bath was partly covered in with loose boards, the exposed part
accommodating a heap of coals in one corner, a heap of potatoes in
another, a beer barrel, some old carpets, a tarpaulin, and a broken
canoe. The marble pavement extended to the outer walls of the house, and
was roofed in at the sides by the upper stories which were supported by
fluted stone columns, much stained and chipped. The staircase, towards
which Trefusis led his visitors, was a broad one at the end opposite the
door, and gave access to a gallery leading to the upper rooms.

"This house was built in 11780 by an ancestor of my mother," said
Trefusis. "He passed for a man of exquisite taste. He wished the place
to be maintained forever--he actually used that expression in his
will--as the family seat, and he collected a fine library here, which
I found useful, as all the b