t no bones were broken, his anger returned.

"I'll find it, wherever it is!" he growled, and set out to search the
grounds.

About twenty minutes later, he was forced to admit that there really
was no swimming pool. Except for a brook fifty yards away, there was
only the tiled bathroom of the cottage to bathe in.

"Primitive!" exclaimed Robert, eying this. "Manually operated water
supply, too! I must have the robots fix something better for
tomorrow."

Since none of his robots was equipped with a thermometer, he had to
draw the bath himself. Meanwhile, he gave orders to Blue Two regarding
the brook and a place to swim. He managed to fill the tub without
scalding himself mainly because there was no hot water. His
irritation, by the time he had dressed in fresh clothes and prepared
for another talk with his hostess, was still lively.

"Ah, you return?" Marcia-Joan commented from a window above the back
door.

"It is time to eat," said Robert frankly.

"You are mistaken."

He glanced at the sunset, which was already fading.

"It _is_ time," he insisted. "I always eat at this hour."

"Well, I don't."

Robert leaned back to examine her expression more carefully. He felt
very much the way he had the day the water-supply robot for his pool
had broken down and, despite Robert's bellowed orders, had flooded a
good part of the lawn before Blue One had disconnected it. Some
instinct warned him, moreover, that bellowing now would be as useless
as it had been then.

"What _do_ you do now?" he asked.

"I dress for the evening."

"And when do you eat?"

"After I finish dressing."

"I'll wait for you," said Robert, feeling that that much tolerance
could do no particular harm.

He encountered the pink-and-blue robot in the hall, superintending
several plain yellow ones bearing dishes and covered platters. Robert
followed them to a dining room.

"Marcia-Joan sits there," the major-domo informed him as he moved
toward the only chair at the table.

* * * * *

Robert warily retreated to the opposite side of the table and looked
for another chair. None was visible.

_Of course_, he thought, trying to be fair. _Why should anybody in
this day have more than one chair? Robots don't sit._

He waited for the major-domo to leave, but it did not. The serving
robots finished laying out the dishes and retired to posts along the
wall. Finally, Robert decided that he would have to make his s