The Unwilling Vestal

everely, "you will mar

" she retorted positively, "e

find it from his youngest daughter, and she a mere child, amazed him. As she faced him she appeared both resolute and tremulous. He looked her up and down from the bright blue velvety leather of her little shoes on which the gilt sole-edges and

se and fell slowly above his ample paunch and vaster chest as his breath came evenly; on his short bull neck his great bullet head was as moveless as if he had been one o

ow, with all a Roman's arbitrary ins

ulfennius Calvast

ot!" she

empo

t?" he

aria's handsome, regular face.

. In the second place, because, if all the men on earth were courting me at once, all rich and all fascinating and Caius were poor and anything and everything else that

ugh her olive complexion, her eyes shining till tiny specks s

her's j

for some reason or other, Pulfennius is keen on arranging a marriage between you and Calvaster. His offers are too tempting to be rejected and the chance is to good to be missed. Our properties adjoin not only here and at Baiae, but also at Praeneste, at Grumentum a

Brinnaria

smiled, a m

alternative. Unless you agree to obey me I shall go

s expression. She grinned saucily, almost impudently

that. There can be only six Vestals. You can offer, if you like, but the

hreatening. Not in all her life had he so much as spoken harshly to her; she had been his pet since she had

ove and he s

morning before dawn

aria was flutte

est. You're only fooling; you're only trying to frighten me. You don

erors and with the Pontifex of Vesta. You know that if I made the proposal they would disregard any rival petitioners, would override

ow fairly quive

ther die than have to be a Vestal. I couldn't imagine any li

fro

cus Brinnarius Epulo, I'll have you made a Vestal unless you agree this moment to give up all thoug

ever was an Almo. I'll be sweet as honey to Pulfennius till he loves me better than Secunda, and I

ther s

he soothed her, "and you are just in time. That may

d, broad at the skull and narrow at the chin; puffy, white bags of flabby flesh under his eyes; irregular yellow teeth and sagging cheeks that made

d been exchanged, "for you happen to find me alone with the ve

girl we were talking about? Impossible!

ured him. "This is the girl we were

aded from her olive-skinned cheeks, her arms hanging limply at her sides. She was tall for

glad to have seen her. And now having seen her, do you not think that

ou prefer," Brin

rinnaria an

" he said, "and wait in the

the rear courtyar

nte

ave, bigger even than her father, a gigantic G

ess said, "for if you make any mistake about m

epeated her directions twice and made him repeat them after her in his broken Latin.

y! Hu

fathers' conference had continued. Th

son a bride younger than he is, even if he has to wait two or even four years to claim her. You assured me that your daughter B

ria is unusually well grown and well developed for her age. I hav

girl who has just left us would be taken for over eighteen years old by any stranger at first sight of her, and

ghteen and acts as if she were that age, but she talks as if she were that old and thinks as if she were even older, and she

d Pulfennius, "astou

e me?" Brinnarius

claimed, "but I cannot realize that it c

ou would realize it better if Quar

rroboration to your statement. But if her mother is at hom

th a complexion neither brown nor white, with yellow-brown hair, gray-brown eyes, and in ever

sters and she never seems to eat any heartier or any oftener. Till she was two and a half she was just like any other child. But she has grown more in seven years than any other child I ever knew of ever grew in fourteen and she's so old for her years too. Not but that she plays with dolls and toys and jacks; and she runs about just like any other child of her age, in spite of her size; but she says such grown-up things and she has s

s or more for a wife, as I am determined that no more of my sons shall marry wives of their own age, let alone older. If your daughter is so young,

any shift of gaze; the two men doing all the talking. Some of the talking was almost vehement, Pulfennius disclaiming promises which his host declared he had made. Once they came to a deadlock and then Brinnarius, hi

reached an agreement on every

uestions of duty and propriety. She takes clan traditions very seriously and is determined to comport herself according to ancestral precedents. You will have no fault to find with her respectfulness towards you and Herran

and yell, gesticulate and contort herself into undignified postures and act generally in an uproarious and uncurbed fashion. She keeps up that sort of thing even in town, and is boisterous and unexpected beyond anything I ever heard of in any young girl She is most docile in all really important things, but in respect to her jokings and shriekings and carryings-on she is really beyond my control. She is never openly disobedient, yet she is most ingenious at devising methods for avoiding obedience. Sometimes I lose patience with Brinnaria. But, when I really think it all over, there is no harm in any of it. Strangers, however, would think her a very terrible girl; sh

to misjudge her because of any childish freakishness. And now it seems to me that we should mak

a slave and bade h

ared and yet on the verge of laughter. He could barely control his merriment, yet

a message. But I am afraid to give it to you. I am afraid

shan't suffer for any of her impudence. Repeat

inned with anticipate

hat she will not stand up till she feels inclined, and that if you

there was a t

ius spo

is expected to outgrow I might as well be shown just what this kind of behavi

her behavior; I'll make her smart for it. Come, let us have it over w

ming 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

, stood without voice or movement,

und was all white,-white marble walls, the white marble polished pillars of the peristyle, white marble entablature abov

n, the green of young onion tops. Against that green the red of Brinnaria's gown showed strident and glary, for Brinnaria was sitting on his lap. His arms were round her waist, hers about his neck. She was slowly swinging her blue-shod feet rh

fennius; what do you think

r a daughter-in-law," Pul

angrily to

this mean?"

st ech

ed, imperatively. "W

him, to be a good wife to Calvaster, and of course I'm going to keep my word. From the moment I'm married to Calva

wice, lingeringly and lou

alvaster?" she chirped. "D

let us be gone! This is no place for

sed it all by herself expressly to thwart me? Don't let her have the satisfaction of outmanoeuvering both

I'm sure she'll never be a wife to my son. You'd never convince me that she's fit to be my son's wi

o insinuate-"

everything appropriate to her wa

eard the cooing of the doves, the trickle of the two fountains, Brinna

don!" spoke a v

r looke

here, Segontius?"

new you had not changed your mind since you forbade him to cross your threshold, so I came here at o

replied, sententiou

ease, hugged Almo rapturous

"that you would probably smash every

haven't," spoke the

tween you just to make me ridiculous. I know your way, your malignity, your tenacity of a grudge, yo

less you get out of here quick. I'll break every bone in

d Pulfennius, a

forget our quarrels and be friends again? These young folks were plainly meant

same mind. But both of them deserve some punishment for their presumption.

boy to Falerii for the present. That will kee

nnarius, "and I'll send my

ria sp

d a tiny roast lark for dinner every day. I'll starv