"Of course I'll stay! But did you mean—if it was not unsafe?"
"I suppose I did," she admitted with a smile. "You know I helped you in a mysterious plot the last time I was here. Now it would be selfish of me to ask you to wait if you think you'd better not."
"There's no risk worth counting, and I'd take it if there was. When you have a temperament like mine it's hard to deny yourself a pleasure."
"I shouldn't have thought you self-indulgent," Evelyn smiled.
"Well," he said, "one's fortitude has its limits. I suppose it depends upon the strength of the temptation."
He had answered in a light vein, and Evelyn followed his lead.
"It's a relief to know you mean to stay. My father will be pleased to see you; but he may not have finished his business when dinner is ready, and I rather shrink from going down alone."
They talked about matters of no importance for a time, and then went through the patio to the dining-room. It was not full, and Evelyn imagined that Grahame was glad there were several unoccupied chairs between them and the rest of the company. She noticed, moreover, that when people came in he glanced up quietly, as if he did not want her to notice his action, and she had a guilty feeling that she had made him take a risk that was greater than he would own. Yet she was glad that he had taken it.
"Where are you going when you leave Havana?" he asked presently.
"To Valverde, and afterward perhaps to Rio Frio."