"Manella, Manella, you are naughty! Temper, temper! Of course I do
not care! Be reasonable! Why should I?"

She pressed both hands tightly against her bosom, seeking to control
her quick, excited breathing.

"Why should you? I do not know! But _I_ care! I would be your woman!
I would be your slave! I would wait upon you and serve you
faithfully! I would obey your every wish. I am a good servant,--I
can cook and sew and wash and sweep--I can do everything in a house
and you should have no trouble. You should write and read all day,--
I would not speak a word to disturb you. I would guard you like a
dog that loves his master!"

He listened, with a strange look in his eyes,--a look of wonder and
something of compassion. There was a pause. The silence of the hills
was, or seemed more intense and impressive--the great white cloud
still spread itself in large leisure along the miles of slowly
darkening sky. Presently he spoke. "And what wages, Manella? What
wages should I have to pay for such a servant?--such a dog?"

Her head drooped, she avoided his steady, searching gaze.

"What wages, Manella? None, you would say, except--love! You tell me
you would be my woman,--and I know you mean it. You would be my
slave--you mean that, too. But you would want me to love you!
Manella, there is no such thing as love!--not in this world! There
is animal attraction,--the magnetism of the male for the female, the
female for the male,--the magnetism that pulls the opposite sexes
together in order to keep this planet supplied with an ever new crop