At an earlier period this garden had been well known to all
of them, as it had been a sort of public promenade, and under its
shady walks had many a tender couple exchanged their first vows and
experienced the rapture of the first kiss of love. But for the four last
years all this had been changed; a rich stranger had come and offered to
the impoverished old Count Appiani a large sum for this garden with its
decaying villa, and the count had, notwithstanding the murmurs of the
Romans, sold his last possession to the stranger. He had said to the
grumbling Romans: "You are dissatisfied that I part with my garden for
money. You were pleased to linger in the shady avenues, to listen to
these murmuring fountains and rustling cypresses; you have walked here,
you have here laughed and enjoyed yourselves, while I, sitting in my
dilapidated villa, have suffered deprivation and hunger. I will make you
a proposition. Collect this sum, you Romans, which this stranger offers
me; ye who love to promenade in my garden, unite yourselves in a common
work. Let each one give what he can, until the necessary amount is
collected, then the garden will be your common property, where you can
walk as much as you please, and I shall be happy to be relieved from
poverty by my own countrymen, and not compelled to sell to a stranger
the garden so agreeable to the Romans!"
But the good Romans had no answer to make to Count Appiani.
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