"Sturgis telegraphed me that there was a big possibility of a new vein of oil down on the border," Pell was telling her. "Some important men want to talk things over with me at Bisbee. I want to get started in a day or two. Don't take your maid. It's a rough country, but you'll be all right. Just old clothes. You can ride a lot, so bring your habit. I'll be busy most of the time; but I think you'll like the trip. Never been down that way, have you?" "No," she said. "And I've always wanted to go." "Not afraid of bandits?" he laughed, sipping his champagne. "It's right next door to Mexico, you know. Have some swell times down there, they say." She laughed too. "How exciting," she said. She grew almost jubilant at the prospect of the journey. She knew she would 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 The butler had tactfully withdrawn.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."