higher the country opened out, and there appeared, high on a
hill to the right, Monteriano. The hazy green of the olives
rose up to its walls, and it seemed to float in isolation
between trees and sky, like some fantastic ship city of a
dream. Its colour was brown, and it revealed not a single
house--nothing but the narrow circle of the walls, and behind
them seventeen towers--all that was left of the fifty-two
that had filled the city in her prime. Some were only
stumps, some were inclining stiffly to their fall, some were
still erect, piercing like masts into the blue. It was
impossible to praise it as beautiful, but it was also
impossible to damn it as quaint.

Meanwhile Philip talked continually, thinking this to be
great evidence of resource and tact. It showed Miss Abbott
that he had probed her to the bottom, but was able to
conquer his disgust, and by sheer force of intellect
continue to be as agreeable and amusing as ever. He did not
know that he talked a good deal of nonsense, and that the
sheer force of his intellect was weakened by the sight of
Monteriano, and by the thought of dentistry within those walls.

The town above them swung to the left, to the right, to
the left again, as the road wound upward through the trees,
and the towers began to glow in the descending sun. As they
drew near, Philip saw the heads of people gathering black
upon the walls, and he knew well what was happening--how the
news was spreading that a stranger was in sight, and the
beggars were aroused from their content and bid to adjust
their deformities; how the alabaster man was running for his