"It will be a pleasant drive up there," he had said, "if you care to come. You said you wanted to see the villa."
Eva had rather wanted to see the villa, but the prospect appeared suddenly distasteful to her.
"I think I shall stop at home," she said, and left him standing on the hotel steps.
Jim Armine, it appeared, was going to stop at home, too, and the natural consequence of this was that, half an hour later, they met on the great verandah facing south.
"This place gets stupid," she said, seating herself in a low, basket chair. "I think we shall have to go away."
"Where are you going to?" he asked.
"I had thought of Algiers; we can't go north yet. They are having blizzards in England. Besides, February in England is always intolerable."
"I have never been to Algiers," said Jim, pregnantly.
Eva looked at him a moment.
"Well, I suppose there's no reason why you shouldn't come with us. We haven't got a monopoly of the line."