Tell me all." But he fell into musing, and to her repeated inquiries only said, "He is much changed, and I shall have nothing more to do with him." When Amrah took the platter away, he also went out, and up from the terrace to the roof.
The reader is presumed to know somewhat of the uses of the house-top in the East.

In the matter of customs, climate is a lawgiver everywhere.

The Syrian summer day drives the seeker of comfort into the darkened lewen; night, however, calls him forth early, and the shadows deepening over the mountain-sides seem veils dimly covering Circean singers; but they are far off, while the roof is close by, and raised above the level of the shimmering plain enough for the visitation of cool airs, and sufficiently above the trees to allure the stars down closer, down at least into brighter shining.

So the roof became a resort--became playground, sleeping-chamber, boudoir, rendezvous for the family, place of music, dance, conversation, reverie, and prayer.
The motive that prompts the decoration, at whatever cost, of interiors in colder climes suggested to the Oriental the embellishment of his house-top.

The parapet ordered by Moses became a potter's triumph; above that, later, arose towers, plain and fantastic; still later, kings and princes crowned their roofs with summer-houses of marble and gold.