"How long shall we be in the Fayyūm?" she asked, carelessly. "How long were you in it last year?"
"Off and on for nearly six months."
She said nothing. He struck a match and lit a cigar.
"But of course now it's different," he said. "If you like it, we can stay on, and if you don't we can go back presently to the villa."
"And your work?"
"I ought to be here, so I hope you will like it, Ruby."
He joined her at the tent-door.
"But this winter I mean to live for you, and to try to make you happy. We'll just see how you like being here. Do you think you will like it? Do you feel, as I do, the joy of being in such perfect freedom?"
He put his arm inside hers.
"It's a tremendous change for you, but is it a happy change?" he asked.