 The four friends reside at Felix’s house for a while, slowly being taken in by its luxuries and Felix’s charisma.Flavia is initially appalled at seeing how Pulchra treats her own slave girl, Leda (including whipping her with a birch whip and making her stay huddled in a locked chest as punishment), but before long, she begins treating Nubia almost as poorly; Flavia does not abuse Nubia, but, in an effort to fit in with the way things are done at the house, begins ordering her around like a servant and then ignoring her like a piece of furniture.Spying on various parts of the house, they notice suspicious signs; shortly after one of Felix’s clients comes begging the patron to help find his missing daughter, Lupus sees two men near the villa conferring on how to return her.