of the vault had been removed, and I shall never forget the vivid impression it made upon me.  So far as I know, there has not been any explanation of its having been hidden there, but among the lower classes in Rome there are traditions of great treasure supposed to be buried in other parts of the city.  I have taken the liberty of making the discovery over again at a point some distance from the Palazzo Righetti, and in the present time.  The statue was really found in 1864, and the gem in the ring was stolen.  The marble Venus which Malipieri saw with it is imaginary, but I was also taken to see the beautiful statue of Augustus, now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican, on the spot where it came to light in the Villa of Livia, in 1863.

The great mediaeval family of Conti became extinct long ago.  The palace to which I have given their name would stand on the site of one now the property of the Vatican, but would be of a somewhat different construction.

Finally, I wish to protest that there are no so-called “portraits” in this story of the heart of old Rome.  Many Romans were ruined by the financial crisis of 1888 and its consequences, either at the time or later.  The family to which Sabina belonged is wholly imaginary, and its fall was due to other causes.  I trust that no ingenious reader will try to trace a parallel where none exists.  I would not even have a certain young and famous architect and engineer, for whom I entertain the highest admiration and esteem, recognize a “portrait” of himself in Marino Malipieri, if these pages should ever come to his notice, and I have purposely made my imaginary hero as unlike him as possible, in appearance, manner and speech.

Those who have noticed the increasing tendency of modern readers to bring accusations of plagiarism against novels that deal partly with facts will understand why I have said this much about my own work.  To others, the few details I have given may be of some interest.

*** End of the project gutenberg EBOOK, the heart of Rome ***

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