Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/51

Rh not only for his past outlay, but also for the interest upon the capital, contented himself with letting the ground temporarily to some market gardeners, at a yearly rent of five hundred francs.

Thus, then, as already stated, the iron gate leading into the kitchen-garden had been closed up and left to the rust; while, to prevent the ignoble diggers and delvers of the ground from presuming to sully with their looks the aristocratical inclosure belonging to the hotel, the gate in question had been boarded up to a height of six feet. True the planks were not so closely adjusted but that a hasty peep might be obtained between their interstices; but the strict decorum and rigid propriety of the inhabitants of the hotel left no grounds for apprehending that advantage would be taken of that circumstance.

In the deserted kitchen-garden, in place of cabbages and carrots, pears and melons, a scanty crop of lucern alone bore evidence of its being deemed worthy of cultivation. A small, low door gave egress from the walled space we have been describing, into the projected street, the ground having been abandoned as unproductive by its various renters, and had now fallen so completely in general estimation as to return not even a fraction of the poor half of one per cent, it had originally paid. Toward the hotel the chestnut-trees we have before mentioned rose high above the wall, without in any way affecting the growth of other luxuriant shrubs and flowers that eagerly pressed for ward to fill up the vacant spaces, as though asserting their right to air. At one corner, where the foliage became so thick as almost to shut out day, a large stone bench and sundry rustic seats indicated that this sheltered spot was either in general favor or particular use by some inhabitant of the hotel, which was faintly discernible through the dense mass of verdure that partially concealed it though situated but a hundred paces off.

Whoever had selected this retired portion of the grounds was abundantly justified in his choice by the absence of all glare the cool, refreshing shade the screen it afforded from the scorching rays of the sun, that found no entrance there even during the burning days of hot test summer the incessant and melodious warbling of birds, and the entire removal from either the noise of the street or the bustle of the hotel. On the evening of one of the warmest days spring had yet bestowed on the inhabitants of Paris, might be seen, negligently thrown upon the stone bench, a book, a parasol, and a work-basket, from which hung a partly embroidered cambric handkerchief, while, at a little distance from these articles, was a young girl, standing close to the iron gate, endeavoring to discern something on the other side by means of the openings in the planks.