The Unwilling Vestal | Page 5

We can arrange
for the wedding for this month."
They chaffered a long time about the marriage settlement,Calvaster
sitting silent, biting his lips, staring about him and fidgetting; Quartilla
equally silent, but entirely placid, without the twitch of a muscle or 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, his voice suddenly mild and soft, mentioned Rabulla's death
and his notion of offering Brinnaria for her successor. At once
Pulfennius became manageable and supple and all eagerness for the
happiness of the young couple.
When it seemed that they had reached an agreement on every point
Quartilla had her say.
"I think you will find Brinnaria everything you could wish as a

daughter-in-law. The most uncanny thing about her precocious habits
of thought is her tenacity of any resolve and her grave and earnest
attitude towards all questions 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 Herrania or with her behavior as a
wife. She will be circumspect in her deportment towards all men and is
sure to turn out an excellent housewife. She has lofty inherited
standards to live up to and she is deeply devoted to them.
"This is the more to be wondered at since she is strangely undignified
in many ways. I trust this will wear off as she grows up. It is only in
this respect that Brinnaria has ever given me any cause for concern. She
is more like a boy than a girl in many ways. She not only plays with
boys and plays boys' games and plays them as well as boys or better,
not only climbs trees when she is in the country, and rides bareback and
goes fishing and swimming in any stream or pool, and ranges the
woods and cannot be restrained; but also she will indulge in the wildest
pranks, the most unthinkable freaks, play rough practical jokes on
anybody and everybody, laugh out loud, shout 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; she belies herself so. Any one becoming cognizant of some
of her vagaries would form a very unfavorable judgment of her and
most unjustly. In her heart she is anything but the wild creature she
makes herself appear. Her squawks of merriment, her rude interruptions
of her elders, her pert remarks, her sarcastic jokes, are all the
manifestations of mere overflowing animal spirits, of warm-blooded
youth and hearty health. She will tone down. She is the most startling
and incalculable child I ever heard of. No one could anticipate her
eccentricities. There is an originality of invention about her pranks

which amazes me. But I am sure she will turn out all that I could wish."
"I trust so, indeed," said Pulfennius dryly. "I am grateful to you for
warning me; I promise not to misjudge her because of any childish
freakishness. And now it seems to me that we should make the young
lady herself a party of this conference and bring the matter to a final
settlement."
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