Cannes

Cannes appears briefly in U.S.A. as the destination of an evening drive, but the scene makes the town a threshold in Eveline Hutchins and J.W. Moorehouse’s relationship. They ride toward Cannes, then turn back toward Nice, where a proposal to travel together to Paris leaves their closeness shadowed by caution and uncertainty.

Setting and Riviera itinerary

Cannes belongs to a sequence of excursions during Eveline and J.W. Moorehouse’s stay on the Riviera. Before the drive, they travel along the Corniche in a Packard, lunch in Monte Carlo, visit the casino, and take tea in Mentone. On a later outing they go to Grasse and see its perfume factories. These movements make Cannes part of a changing itinerary rather than a sustained portrait of the town itself.

The trip also includes a separation: Eleanor Stoddard leaves by train for Rome, while J.W. Moorehouse is due to return to Paris. Eveline and J.W. Moorehouse stand together on the station platform after Eleanor’s departure, each expressing affection for her, though Eveline recognizes that her own voice sounds false. Their subsequent lunch and drive unfold in the emotional space left by that parting.

The drive toward Cannes

Toward sunset, Eveline and J.W. Moorehouse ride around the end of the bay into Cannes. The scene’s movement is outward, but J.W. Moorehouse soon proposes a return to Nice. He suggests that Eveline drive back to Paris with him, stopping in picturesque villages along the way, and says he will send back the staff car and hire a French car so they are less likely to encounter people they know. The plan makes discretion part of the proposed journey.

Eveline agrees, saying that Nice has become tiresome. Yet they do not continue from Cannes toward Paris that evening: J.W. Moorehouse calls the chauffeur and takes her back to Nice, arranging to collect her the next morning. After he leaves, Eveline feels let down and lies awake, physically restless and troubled by thoughts that shift among familiar faces. Cannes thus marks a turn in the excursion, not a settled destination or a completed departure.

Narrative significance

The Cannes episode places an intimate, uncertain encounter within the novel’s broader passage through ordinary lives and public history. Its importance lies less in local description than in the sequence of gestures and decisions: Eleanor’s departure, Eveline’s strained reassurance, the sunset drive, and J.W. Moorehouse’s effort to keep their possible trip unnoticed. The proposed journey draws them closer while the need for concealment and the delay until morning keep that closeness unresolved.