Maybe, when I am well, and have a good
position, and all, they won't take it so hard."

Eleanor refused to listen to any such counsel. She wanted to announce
their engagement at once, and be married at the earliest possible date.
He needed her to take care of him, she declared; and besides, they could
make a start on the money that would soon be due her from her father's
estate. To this proposition Quin would not listen, and they had a
spirited quarrel and reached no agreement.

Eleanor had fallen seriously in love for the first time in her life, and
it was a sudden and overwhelming experience. During those anxious days of
Quin's illness, when his life had hung in the balance, she had time to
realize what he meant to her. Now that he needed skilful nursing and
constant care to assure his recovery, she was determined not to be
separated from him.

In spite of his protests, she joyfully announced their engagement to
Uncle Ranny and the aunties at dinner, and was surprised to find that the
family tree, instead of being rocked to its foundation, was merely
pleasantly stirred in its branches.

"You see, we could not help suspecting it," Miss Isobel twittered
excitedly to Quin, when she brought him his tray. "You talked about her
incessantly in your delirium, and the dear child was almost beside
herself the night we thought you might not recover. I told sister then
that if you got well----"

"But what about Madam?" Quin interrupted anxiously. "What will she think
of Miss Nell's being engaged to a fellow like me, with no money or
position, or any prospects of being able to marry for God knows how
long?"

Miss Isobel looked grave. "Nellie is breaking the news to her now," she
said primly. "I am afraid she is going to find it very hard. But, as
sister says, there are times when one has to follow one's own judgments.
When mother sees that we all stand together about this----"

She waved her hand with a little air of finality. It was the second time
in her life that she had made even a gesture toward freedom.

The interview between Eleanor and her grandmother lasted for more than an
hour, and nobody knew the outcome of it until the next morning, when a
family council was called in Quin's room. Madam was wheeled in in state,
resplendent in purple and gold, with her hair elaborately dressed, as
usual.

To everybody's amazement, she opened the conference by abruptly announcing
that she had decided that Eleanor and Quin sho