admitted. "I supposed he knew
where you were. I couldn't have told him, because I didn't know. But he
wrote and suggested I should use my influence with you to reconsider your
decision. Those were his words."

"How much has he paid you for coming here?"

"Nothing. As if I would take money for coming to _you_!"

"You have taken it for some queer things, and will again if you don't
settle down to private life with your millionaire.... It's no use,
Madalena. Go back to San Francisco. Send in your bill to Van Vreck. Tell
him there's nothing doing. And make up your mind to marriage."

"But, Don, you haven't heard what he offers."

"It can't be more than he offered me himself when I saw him in New
York----"

"It is more. He says that particularly. He raises the offer from last
time. It is _three times_ higher! Think what that means. Oh, Don, it
means life, real life, not stagnation! I would give up safety and a
million to be with you--as your partner again, your humble partner.

"Here, on this bleak ranch, it is like death--a death of dullness. I know
what you must be suffering because you are obstinate, because you have
taken a resolve, and are determined not to break it. You are afraid it
will be weakness to break it. There can be no other reason.

"I have asked questions about your life here. I have learned things. I
know _she_ is cold as ice. If you stay you will degenerate. You will
become a clod.

"Leave this hideous gray place. Leave that woman who treats you like a
dog. Let the ranch be hers. Send her money. You will have it to spare.
She can divorce you, and you will be freed forever from the one great
mistake you ever made. As for me----"

"As for you--be silent!" The command struck like a whiplash. "You are not
worthy to speak of 'that woman,' as you call her. If I did what you
deserve, I'd send you off without another word--turn my back on you and
let you go. But--" he drew in his breath sharply, then went on as if he
had taken some tonic decision--"I want you to understand why, if Paul Van
Vreck offered me _all_ his money, and you offered me the love of all the
women on earth with your own, I shouldn't be tempted to accept.

"It's because of 'that woman'--who is my wife. It may be true that she
treats me like a dog, for she wouldn't be cruel to the meanest cur. But
I'd rather be her dog than any other woman's master.

"So you see now. It's come to that with me. I won her love and
married her for my