those whose minds had made them gods among their kind.
Two peculiarly large windows, whose purple curtains were as yet undrawn, opened upon the lawn; one was in shade, for an acacia tree grew so close that its boughs touched the glass, and every note swept by the wind from its leaves was audible. The lawn was only separated from the park by a light iron rail; and the beds of rainbow-touched flowers, the clumps of blossoming shrubs, the profusion of early roses, were suddenly merged in the unbroken verdure, and the shadow of old and stately trees farther on, and seen more distinctly than usual at so late an hour, from the clear background of the cloudless west, now like an unbroken lake of amber. There was but a single lamp burning, and that was so placed that its light chiefly fell on a recess, so large that it was like a room of itself, and furnished in most opposite taste to the library.
A skilful painter had covered the walls with an Italian landscape: the light fell from the dome almost as upon reality, so actual was the bend of the cypresses, and so green the ivy, that half covered the broken columns in
