t think, my dear, how rich you'd be."

"I don't want to be rich. Rich men torture each other," he cried,
steadying himself against the back of a chair.

"You've only to say one word and you can walk out of here without a
care in the world."

The sound of violins was in her voice. The promise of life care-free
and full of sunshine was in her eyes and the curve of her smile.

He tried to look away, but the appeal was too strong.

"I can walk out of here," he repeated. "Out of here!"

"Such a lovely world, too."

The touch of her breath on his cheek was like a breeze and the smell of
her hair like violets.

"Yes, yes."

"A great big garden of a world," he crooned, and no song ever sounded
sweeter.

He felt his power to resist was ebbing away--falling from him like a
cloak. With a mighty effort, he replied:

"A garden full of Eves."

And he sat humped up upon the camp bed. Auriole glided toward him and
slipped her arms round his neck. He made no effort to escape.

"Eves are rather nice," she whispered.

His head tilted back against her.

"Rather nice," he echoed. "Rather nice. Soft shoulders where a man
can rest his head." A glorious drowsiness was stealing over his limbs,
a blessed sense of drifting into unknown contentment. She drew up her
knees and they sat huddled together on the narrow canvas bed like babes
in a wood. He was barely conscious of her voice. It came to his ears
as gently as the sound of waves running over sand.

"--all the wonderful things we could do, Tony. The plans we could make
come true. We could go out to a fairy-like dinner together--in one of
your wonderful cars you could fetch me--and the streets would be
twinkling with lights like jewels in Aladdin's cave."

Then he found he was talking too.

"A farm in New Zealand," he said. "Great flocks of sheep and herds of
cattle. I know the place. There are mountains with snow caps, green
grass plains, black firs and running water. I could have all that--if
only--But no."

"Nothing is out of reach, Tony. Everything can be yours at the price
of a little sentence--just a little sentence."

"No, no."

"Yon need never see those others again, but just tell me. Men tell
everything to women, they can't keep a secret from a woman. Nature
never intended they should. That's why Nature made women the mothers
because the first secret of life is theirs, and all the rest follow
after."

"You're bad, bad," he moaned. "