"Oh!" she cried--"How beautiful! I have quite as much in quantity, but it is black and heavy--ugly!--no good. And he,--that man who lives in the hut on the hill--says there is nothing he hates so much as a woman with golden hair! How can he hate such a lovely thing!" Morgana shrugged her shoulders. "Each one to his taste!" she said, airily--"Some like black hair--some red--some gold--some nut-brown. But does it matter at all what men think or care for? To me it is perfectly indifferent! And you are quite right to prefer hanging to marriage--I do, myself!" Fascinated by her wonderful elfin look as she stood like a white iris in its silken sheath, her small body's outline showing dimly through the folds of her garment, Manella drew nearer, somewhat timidly. "Ah, but I do not mean that I prefer hanging to real, true marriage!" she said--"When one loves, it is different! In love I would rather hang than not give myself to the man I love--give myself in all I am, and all I have! And YOU--you who look so pretty and wonderful--almost like a fairy!--do YOU not feel like that too?" Morgana laughed--a little laugh sweet and cold as rain tinkling on glass. "No, indeed!" she answered--"I have never felt like THAT! I hope I shall never feel like THAT! To feel like THAT is to feel like the female beasts of the field who only wait and live to be used by the males, giving 'all they are and all they have,' poor creatures! The bull does not 'love' the cow--he gives her a calf. When the calf is born and old enough to get along by itself, it forgets its mother just as its mother forgets IT, while the sire is blissfully indifferent to both! It's really the same thing with human animals,--especially nowadays--only we haven't the honesty to admit it! No, Manella Soriso!--with your good looks you ought to be far above 'feeling like THAT!--you are a nobler creature than a cow! No wonder men despise women who are always on the cow level!" She laughed again, and tripped lightly to the looking-glass. "I must dress;"--she said--"And you can take a message to my chauffeur and tell him to get everything ready to start. I've had a lovely night's rest and am quite fit for a long run." "Oh, are you going?" and Manella gave a little cry of pain--"I am sorry! I do want you to stay!" Morgana's eyes flashed mingled humour and disdain. "You quaint creature! Why should I stay? There's nothing to stay for!" "If there's nothing to stay for, why did you come?" This was an unexpected question, the result of a subconscious suggestion in Manella's mind which she herself could not have explained. Morgana seemed amused. "What did I come for? Really, I hardly know! I am full of odd whims and fancies, and I like to humour myself in my various ways. I think I wanted to see a bit of California,--that's all!" "Then why not see more of it?" persisted Manella.