Access Online - The European Library

ARIADNE. 101arise, and the Spada Villa sits on the hillside,hke an old man who crouches and counts overthe crimes of his youth, to the lovely long linesof hght where the sea lies,and where at sunsetall the little white and rosy clouds seem to goflocking westwardhke a flight of birds.In the middle ages, and maybe even earlier,when Stilicho counselled the making of theadjacent gate, the tower had been a fortressand a fighting-place; later on it had been adwelling-place, chiefly sought by artists for thesuidit wonder of its view, and its solitude inthe centre of the city, and the many legendsthat had gathered about it,as the owls hved onits roof. It had spacious chambers, painted andvaulted, and some were so high that no singlesort of noise from the streets below could reachthere,and nothing coidd be heard save the soundof the birds' wings and the rush of the wind onstormy days amongst the clouds.To this place after a while she came and lived.WhenItoldher at last of the curious treasureshe had inherited, it scarcely seemed to makeany impression onher;her first instinct was to