"
Narcissus beamed.
"To you then, M. Raoul, after your Forum and famous Amphitheatre, our
pavement must seem a poor trifle--though it by no means exhausts our
list of interesting remains. The praefurnium, for instance; I must
show you our praefurnium."
"The house would be remarkable anywhere--even in my own Provence--so
closely has it kept the original lines. In half-an-hour one could
reconstruct--"
"Ay!" chimed in the delighted Narcissus. "You shall try, M. Raoul,
you shall try! I promise to catch you tripping."
"Yonder runs the Fosse Way, west by south. The villa stands about two
hundred yards back from it, facing the south-east--"
"A little east of south. The outer walls did not run exactly true with
the enclosed quadrangle."
"You say that the front measured two hundred feet, perhaps a little
over. Clearly, then, it was a domain of much importance, and the
granaries, mills, stables, slaves' dwellings would occupy much space
about it--an acre and a half, at least."
"Portions of a brick foundation were unearthed no less than three
hundred yards away. A hypocaust lay embedded among them, much broken
but recognisable."
"What puzzles me," mused M. Raoul, is how these southern settlers
managed to endure the climate."
"But that is explicable." Narcissus was off now, in full cry. "The
trees, my dear sir, the trees! I have not the slightest doubt that our
Bayfield elms are the ragged survivors of an immense forest--a forest
which covered the whole primaeval face of Somerset on this side of the
fens, and through which Vespasian's road-makers literally hewed their
way.
Pages:
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61