*** she was still living in the palace , though the palace had changed since he was last here ; bare dirt paths crossed the unwatered lawns , and half the trees had been broken down , and the stillness that had once reigned here had been broken too dirty children chased each other through the corridors , and scrawny old men squatted under the colonnades , each with his few possessions , canteen and water pot and in one case a grubby , half-unwound scroll , set out neatly on his bedroll .