Page:Temple Bailey--The Gay cockade.djvu/295

 I kept still and presently she began again. "They give money—and they think that is—enough. They give jewels—and think we ought to be profoundly grateful."

"Well, my experience," I told her, "is that the men give as much love as the women"

She looked at me. "What do you mean?"

"Love costs them a lot."

"In what way?"

"They work for us. Now there's Billy's grocery store. If Billy didn't have me, he'd be doing things that he likes better. You wouldn't believe it, but Billy wanted to study law, but it meant years of hard work before he could make a cent, and he and I would have wasted our youth in waiting—and so he went into business—and that's a big thing for a man to do for a woman—to give up a future that he has hoped for—and that's why I feel that I can't do enough for Billy"

"I don't see why you should look at it in that way," she said, and her eyes were big and bright. "Women are queens, and they honor men when they marry them"

"If women are queens," I told her, "men are kings—Billy honored me"

She smiled at me. "Oh, you blessed dear" she said, and all of a sudden she came over and knelt beside me. "What would you think of a 289