d probably be "shown off" to the
important men; and that touched her vanity--what little she had left by
now.

"They tell me it's God's country, with big chances for everyone. I want to
add to our little pile, Lucia," Pell went on. He hoped she would get the
significance of the "our."

"You're too good to me, Morgan," she said, and meant it. "But why do we
need any more money? We've got everything now."

"Everything?" he said, significantly; and his eyes became two narrow slits
as he looked at her.

She toyed with her salad. She hoped he was not going to get into one of his
fiendishly unpleasant moods.

"Well," she ventured, "as much as anyone could reasonably want. This house,
the garden, friends--"

"Yes," he sneered, "but not much love." The butler had tactfully withdrawn.
"Why don't you love me, Lucia?"

"I do--in a way. Oh, let's don't go into all that again, Morgan. We've had
it out so many times. What's the use?"

"Is there anyone else?" he asked. "If I thought there was...." He lifted
his glass again.

"You know there isn't," she protested.

He appraised her across the table, beautiful in a blue gown which just
matched her eyes, her throat adorned with a string of pearls he had given
her on the anniversary of their marriage.

"I don't see how a woman as lovely as you can be so cold," he said. "You
could do anything with men."

She tried to smile. "But I don't want to. Women--good women--don't like to
play with fire. It's only adventuresses who dare to face danger.... But
let's talk about Arizona. How good it will be to get out of this hothouse
of the East, and see real people--real flesh-and-blood men and women."

"Yes. The folks down there know more about life in a day than we do in all
our pitiful lives. You've got to live close to nature to understand human
nature. Simple, isn't it?"

"Very. We're all so false up here. I get so tired of it, Morgan. Maybe down
there we'll come to a better understanding of each other. Maybe...."

"That's what I was hoping. So you'd like to go--really?"

"Yes, indeed. It'll be hot, that's all. But I won't mind that. Anything to
get away for awhile."

Two days later they had started. The land was green with early summer, in
that rich fullness which makes the heart almost sick with ecstasy. The
farther west they went, the wilder the country grew; and when they finally
dipped down into Arizona, Lucia looked from the train window, her face
alight with joy. Such