“And there are superior things which are good for nothing.”
“Will you come and take a drive with me, philosopher brother?”
“Where?”
“Let’s go to the Villa Borghese. The carriage will be here in a moment.”
“All right. Let us go there.”
A two-horse victoria with rubber tires was waiting at the door, and Laura and Cæsar got in. The carriage went past the Treasury, and out the Porta Salaria, and entered the gardens of the Villa Borghese.
The morning had been rainy; the ground was damp; the wind waved the tree-tops gently and caused a murmur like the tide. The carriage rolled slowly along the avenues. Laura was very gay and chatty. Cæsar listened to her as one listens to a bird warbling.
Many times while listening he thought: “What is there inside this head? What is the master idea of her life? Has she really any idea about life, or has she none?”
After several rounds they crossed the viaduct that unites the Villa Borghese with the Pincio gardens.
FROM THE PINCIO TERRACE