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--"