"Maybe he can unpack. But he won't know where I want my things. I'm fussy."

"Let's have a fight about the closets, who gets which. Then we could wrestle a bit, and then-"

"We could have a shower and a swim and an early lunch. I'm starving."

"You have an early lunch. I'll go downtown and look for an office. There must be some business in Poodle Springs. There's a lot of money here and I might grab off an occasional nickel."

"I hate you. I don't know why I married you. But you were so insistent."

I grabbed her and held her close. I browsed on her eyebrows and her lashes, which were long and tickly. I passed on to her nose and cheeks, and then her mouth. At first it was just a mouth, then it was a darting tongue, then it was a long sigh, and two people as close as two people can get.

"I settled a million dollars on you to do with as you like," she whispered.

"A nice kind gesture. But you know I wouldn't touch it."

"What are we to do, Phil?"

"We have to ride it out. It's not always going to be easy. But I am not going to be Mr. Loring."

"I'll never change you, will I?"

"Do you really want to make a purring pussycat out of me?"

"No. I didn't marry you because I had a lot of money and you had hardly any. I married you because I love you and one of the things I love you for is that you don't give a damn for anybody-sometimes not even for me. I don't want to make you cheap, darling. I just want to try to make you happy."

"I want to make you happy. But I don't know how. I'm not holding enough cards. I'm a poor man married to a rich wife. I don't know how to behave. I'm only sure of one thing-shabby office or not, that's where I became what I am. That's where I will be what I will be."

There was a slight murmur and Augustino appeared in the open doorway bowing, with a deprecating smile on his elegant puss.