'Yes—so Mr. Porterfield says.'
Something in the way she uttered these words made me laugh—they were so serene an implication that the gentleman in question did not live up to his principles. But I checked myself, asking my companion if she expected to remain in Europe long—to live there.
'Well, it will be a good while if it takes me as long to come back as it has taken me to go out.'
'And I think your mother said last night that it was your first visit.'
Miss Mavis looked at me a moment. 'Didn't mother talk!'
'It was all very interesting.'
She continued to look at me. 'You don't think that.'
'What have I to gain by saying it if I don't?'
'Oh, men have always something to gain.'
'You make me feel a terrible failure, then! I hope at any rate that it gives you pleasure—the idea of seeing foreign lands.'