Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Islands -- Fiction; Love stories; Nobility -- Fiction
Near the château there was a real waterfall, reminding one in no small
sense of the misty veils at Lauterbrunnen or Giesbach. The swift stream
which obtained life from these falls, big and little, ran along the base
of the cliff for some distance and was then diverted by means of a deep,
artificial channel into an almost complete circuit of the château,
forming the moat. It sped along at the foot of the upper terrace, a wide
torrent that washed between solid walls of masonry which rose to a
height of not less than ten feet on either side. There were two
drawbridges--seldom used but always practicable. One, a handsome example
of bridge building, crossed the current at the terminus of the grand
approach which led up from the park; the other opened the way to the
stables and the servants' quarters at the rear. A small, stationary
bridge crossed the vicious stream immediately below the hanging garden
and led to the ladders by which one ascended to the caverns that ran far
back into the mountain.
Two big, black, irregular holes in the face of the cliff marked the
entrance to these deep, rambling caves, wonderful caverns wrought by the
convulsions of the dead volcano, cracks made by these splintering
earthquakes when the island was new.
The garden hung high between the building and the cliff, swung by a
score of great steel cables. These cables were riveted soundly in the
solid rock of the cliff at one end and fastened as safely to the stone
walls of the château at the other. It swung staunchly from its moorings,
with the constancy of a suspension bridge, and trembled at the slightest
touch.
It was at least a hundred feet square. The floor was covered with a foot
or more of soil in which the rich grass and plants of the tropics
flourished. There were tiny flower beds in the center; baby palms,
patchouli plants and a maze of interlacing vines marked the edges of
this wonderful garden in mid-air. Cool fountains sprayed the air at
either end of the green enclosure: the illusion was complete.
The walls surrounding the garden were three feet high and were intended
to represent the typical English garden wall of brick. To gain access to
the hanging garden, one crossed a narrow bridge, which led from the
second balcony of the château. There was not an hour in the day when
protection from the sun could not be found in this little paradise.
Bobby Browne was holding forth, with his usual exuberance, on the
magnificence of the British navy. The Marquess of B----, uncle to the
Princess, swelled with pride as he sat at the table and tasted his julep
through the ever-obliging straw. The Princess, fanning herself wearily,
leaned back and looked up into the mystic night, the touch of dreamland
caressing her softly. The others--eight or ten men and half as many
women--listened to the American in twice as many moods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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