"Strange name for a Yankee woman," the other commented.

"Oh, but I'm not Yankee," Saxon exclaimed. "I'm Californian."

"La la," laughed Mercedes Higgins. "I forgot I was in America. In
other lands all Americans are called Yankees. It is true that you
are newly married?"

Saxon nodded with a happy sigh. Mercedes sighed, too.

"Oh, you happy, soft, beautiful young thing. I could envy you to
hatred--you with all the man-world ripe to be twisted about your
pretty little fingers. And you don't realize your fortune. No one
does until it's too late."

Saxon was puzzled and disturbed, though she answered readily:

"Oh, but I do know how lucky I am. I have the finest man in the
world."

Mercedes Higgins sighed again and changed the subject. She nodded
her head at the garments.

"I see you like pretty things. It is good judgment for a young
woman. They're the bait for men--half the weapons in the battle.
They win men, and they hold men--" She broke off to demand almost
fiercely: "And you, you would keep your husband?--always,
always--if you can?"

"I intend to. I will make him love me always and always."