seems not. That is, there is n't much sense in it if it won't let
me go to Etois with you."

"Of course you can't do that."

"And yet," he said, "if we were married I could go, couldn't I?"

"Why--er--yes," she faltered; "I suppose so."

"Then," he said, "why don't we get married?"

She did not turn away her head. She lifted her dark eyes to his.

"Just what do you mean, Monte?" she demanded.

"I mean," he said uneasily, "that we should get married just so that we
can go on--as we have been these last ten days. Really, we'll still
only be engaged, but no one need know that. Besides, no one will care,
if we're married."

He gained confidence as he went on, though he was somewhat afraid of
the wonder in her eyes.

"People don't care anything more about you after you're married," he
said. "They just let you drop as if you were done for. It's a queer
thing, but they do. Why, if we were married we could sit here all day
and no one would give us a second glance. We could have breakfast
together as often as we wished, and no one would care a hang. I've
seen it done. We could go to Etois together, and I could pay for half
the villa and you could pay for half. You can bring Marie, and we can
stay as long as we wish without having any one turn an eye."

He was growing enthusiastic now.

"There will be nothing to prevent you from doing just as you wish. You
can paint all day if you want. You can paint yards of things--olive
trees and sky and rocks. There are lots of them around Etois. And I--"

"Yes," she interrupted; "what can you do, Monte?"

"I can watch you paint," he answered. "Or I can walk. Or I can--oh,
there'll be plenty for me to do. If we tire of Etois we can move
somewhere else. If we tire of each other's company, why, we can each
go somewhere else. It's simple, is n't it? We can both do just as we
please, can't we? There won't be a living soul with the right to open
his head to us. Do you get that? Why, even if you want to go off by
yourself, with Mrs. in front of your name they'll let you alone."

At first she had been surprised, then she had been amused, but now she
was thinking.

"It's queer, is n't it, Monte, that it should be like that?"

"It's the way it is. It makes everything simple and puts the whole
matter up to us."

"Yes," she admitted thoughtfully.

"Of course," he said, "I'm assuming you don't mind having me around
quite a lot."

"No, I don't mind that," s