The Aspern Papers

by Henry James

I had not supposed by way of way of my non-public ejaculation that I must myself domesticate the soil of the tangled enclosure which lay beneath the windows, however the woman who got here closer to me from the distance over the difficult, shining ground might have meant as plenty from the manner wherein, as I went rapidly to fulfill her, I exclaimed, taking care to speak Italian: “The garden, the garden—do me the delight to tell me if it’s yours!” She stopped brief, searching at me with wonder; after which, “Nothing right here is mine,” she spoke back in English, coldly and regrettably. “Oh, you are English; how nice!” I remarked, ingenuously. “But in reality the lawn belongs to the house?” “Yes, but the house doesn’t belong to me.”