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Rh where was placed a small pan of charcoal, whose red glare served to show rather than disperse the gloom around. Over this was simmering a preparation of herbs, which diffused a strong but pleasant odour. A single line of light wandered amid the obscurity—it came from an open door, beyond which a winding staircase led to the tower where Carrara spent much of his time.

Farther on, the room became lighter; it was just the contrast between youth and age. The two oriel windows were especially appropriated by the cousins. At the one the day was admitted freely, and fell on the various products of the sculptor's skill; all touched with something of melancholy, which in youth seems to prophesy the fate it afterwards, perhaps, serves to fulfil. There were casts of the Gladiator—he whose native courage struggled against the doom which was yet welcome—a mournful allegory of honour. The Niobe stricken by that inexorable destiny which the ancients so well knew was never yet shunned nor propitiated by human effort. The Antinoüs, where death is in a face of youthful beauty—the shadow of the tomb resting upon hope and love. Below were two or three graceful urns, but wreathed with cypress; and a vase, but a serpent was coiled