Brinnarius called a slave and bade him fetch Brinnaria. Almost at once the fellow, a dark-skinned, obsequious Lydian, returned looking scared and yet on the verge of laughter. He could barely control his merriment, yet was plainly afraid to utter what he had to say. His master ordered him to speak. “Instead of coming with me,” he said, “the young lady sent a message. But I am afraid to give it to you. I am afraid of a thrashing if I give the message as she gave it to me.” “Another of her jokes,” her father growled. “You shan’t suffer for any of her impudence. Repeat her exact words; I’ll hold you excused, Dastor.” Dastor, reassured, grinned with anticipated enjoyment and said: “She says she is sitting down and very comfortable where she is, that she will not stand up till she feels inclined, and that if you want to see her you can come to her, for she will not come to you.” For a moment there was a tense silence. Pulfennius spoke first. “If this is a sample of the sort of deportment which my future daughter-in-law is expected to outgrow I might as well be shown just what this kind of behavior is like. Let us acquiesce and go to the little witch, if you do not object.” “I don’t object at all to going,” his host replied, “but I object to her behavior; I’ll make her smart for it. Come, let us have it over with; I’ll show you a submissive Brinnaria or I’ll know the reason why.” They stood up and from the open atrium passed into a narrow passage lighted only from the two ends and so into the larger courtyard with gleaming marble columns at each end and long rows of them down each side. The tank under the open sky was much larger than that in the atrium and had two fountains in it. Pigeons cooed on the tiles of the roofs, and two or three of them strutted on the mosaic pavement among the columns. The party, dumbfounded and stunned, stood without voice or movement, gazing at the picture before them. The pavement was a cool grayish white in effect, for its mosaic work was all of pale neutral tints. Above it the background was all white,--white marble walls, the white marble polished pillars of the peristyle, white marble entablature above them, the general whiteness emphasized by the mere streak of red tiled roof visible against the intense blue of the sky.