"I had selected the garden for two reasons: I wanted the air and I wanted to know something more of my surroundings. What I saw--and I could see now the more clearly, for the moon had risen over the mountain--were two rear windows on the second floor, their sills level with the sloping shed, and a tree with its branches curved over its roof. This meant ventilation and a view of the mountains at sunrise--always a delight to me. It also meant an easy escape out the window, over the roof, and down the tree-trunk to the garden, and so on back to the goatherd if anything unusual should happen. That, however, could take care of itself. The sensible thing to do was to eat my supper, order my coffee to be ready at six o'clock, go to bed in one of these rear rooms, and get back to my work before the heat became intense. "All this was carried out--that is, the first part of it. I had the rear room, the one I had picked out for myself, not by my choice but by his, the landlord selecting it for me; it would be cooler, he said, and then I could sleep with my window open, free from the dust which sometimes blew in the front windows when the wind rose--and it was rising now, as the signore could hear. Yes, I should be called at six, and my coffee would be ready--and 'may the good God watch over your slumbers, most Distinguished of Excellencies.' "This comforting information was imparted as I followed him up a break-neck stair and down a long, narrow corridor, ending in a small hall flanked by two bedroom doors. The first was mine--and so was the candle which he now placed in my hand--and 'will your Excellency be careful to see that it is properly blown out before your Excellency falls asleep?' and so I bade him good-night, pushed in the door, held the sputtering candle high above my head, and began to look around. "It wouldn't have filled your soul with joy. Had I not been tired out with my day's work I would have called him back, read the riot act, and made him move in some comforts. The only things which could be considered furniture were a heavy oaken chest and a solid wooden bed--a box of a bed with a filling of feathers supporting two hard pillows. And that was every blessed thing the room contained except a toy pitcher and basin decorating the top of the chest; a white cotton curtain stretched across the lower sash of the single window; a nail for my towel, a row of wooden pegs for my clothes, and a square of looking-glass which once had the measles. Not a chair of any kind, no table, no wash-stand. This was a place in which to sleep, not sit nor idle in. Off with your clothes and into bed--and no growling. "I walked to the open window, pushed aside the cotton curtain, and looked out on the sloping shed and overhanging tree, and the garden below, all clear and distinct in the light of the moon. I could see now that the tree had either prematurely lost its leaves or was stone dead. The branches, too, were bent as if in pain.