Occasionally, on Sundays, some of the humble classes would walk over from Rome and make merry there; but the week days often went by without a soul entering the place, such was its isolation amidst the bare Campagna.
The Count was already springing from the carriage.

"I shall only be a minute," said he as he turned away.
The _osteria_ was a long, low pile with a ground floor and one upper storey, the last being reached by an outdoor stairway built of large blocks of stone which had been scorched by the hot suns.

The entire place, indeed, was corroded, tinged with the hue of old gold.

On the ground floor one found a common room, a cart-house, and a stable with adjoining sheds.

At one side, near a cluster of parasol pines--the only trees that could grow in that ungrateful soil--there was an arbour of reeds where five or six rough wooden tables were set out.