unlocked, he drew the lappet of his toga over his
head after the fashion of a hood to shield it from the drizzling rain--for,
except on a journey, the hardy Romans never wore any hat or headgear--and
hastened with a firm and regular step along the marble peristyle. This
portico, or rather piazza, enclosed, by a double row of Tuscan columns, a
few small flower beds, and a fountain springing high in the air from the
conch of a Triton, and falling back into a large shell of white marble,
which it was so contrived as to keep ever full without at any time
overflowing.

Beyond this was a summer triclinium or dining room facing the north, and
provided with the three-sided couch, from which it took its name,
embracing a circular table. Through this they passed into a smaller court
adorned like the other by a jet d'eau, surrounded by several small
boudoirs and bed chambers luxuriously decorated, which were set apart to
the use of the females of the family, and guarded night and day by the
most trusty of the slaves.

Hence a strong door gave access to a walled space, throughout the length
of which on either hand ran a long range of offices, and above them the
dormitories of the slaves, with a small porter's lodge or guard room by
the gate, opening on the orchard in the rear.

Therein were stationed the four Thracians, mentioned by Hortensia, whose
duty it was to keep watch alternately over the safety of the postern,
although the key was not entrusted to their charge; and he, whose watch it
was, started up from a bench on which he had been stretched, and looked
forth torch in hand at the sound of approaching footsteps. Seeing,
however, who it was, and that the steward attended him, he lent his aid in
opening the postern, and reverently bowed the knee to Arvina, as he
departed from the hospitable villa.

The orchard through which lay his onward progress, occupied a considerable
extent of ground, laid out in terraces adorned with marble urns and
statues, long bowery walks sheltered by vine-clad trellices, and rows of
fruit trees interspersed with many a shadowy clump of the rich evergreen
holm-oak, the tufted stone-pine, the clustering arbutus, and smooth-leaved
laurestinus. This lovely spot was separated from the plebeian cemetery
only--as has been said already--by a low wall; and therefore in those days
of universal superstition of the lower orders and the slaves, and many too
of their employers, would have eschewed it as a pl