"But," said Lady Eldridge, as we were finishing breakfast, "you have never yet told me where you are going, Evelyn, my dear."
Evelyn was about to answer her, when, to my surprise, Sir William prevented her.
"Our plans are not yet formed, Lady Eldridge," he said; "I am going to consider this morning what our tour will be, and then I shall be able to let you know."
"Oh, you must come to Cairo," said Lady Eldridge, decidedly; "there is no place like Cairo in the winter. The climate is simply perfect, my dear," she said, turning to Evelyn. "Now, Sir William, you must decide to stay at least three months at Cairo, and then we can all spend the winter together. Now come, I think that is a capital plan!"
Sir William smiled, and said he would consider the matter; but there were many other places that he wished to visit, and he could not make up his mind hastily. We did not see much of Lady Eldridge after breakfast, for she remained in the saloon the whole day reading a French novel, and seemed to think us very extraordinary girls because we chose to go on deck.
Evelyn and I found a sheltered seat, where the cold wind did not reach us; and here we sat with our books and our work until the evening. The steamer had started early in the morning, and though a fresh breeze was blowing, still the sea was not uncomfortably rough, and we were beginning to think that sea voyages were not half so disagreeable and uncomfortable as people made them out to be.
Sir William paced up and down the deck with Mr. Stanley nearly all the morning, discussing his future plans. Every now and then they stopped to examine a map or a guidebook; and at length they sat down on a seat, and Sir William took a pencil from his pocket, and wrote at Mr. Stanley's dictation.
"I wonder what papa has settled!" said Evelyn. "I wish he would come and tell us. I am sure he does not want to go to Cairo, now that Lady Eldridge is going there. Did not you notice that he would not let me say where we were going?"
When Sir William had finished writing, he and Mr. Stanley came towards us, and Sir William told us, to our great joy, that we were going at once to Jerusalem. Mr. Stanley had told him that there was a clean, comfortable hotel there, and that the climate in December and January was generally beautiful.
"So I think we will stop in Jerusalem a month or two," said Sir William, "and then decide where we go next. What do you say to that, Evelyn?"