When he recovered from his shock of subliminal ecstasy, his first thought was of the trouble he was storing up for Eleanor. Even his rapture was dimmed by the prospect of involving her in another love affair that could only meet with bitter opposition of her family.
"We must keep it dark for the present," he urged, holding her close as if he feared she would slip away. "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 should be married at once.
"She's at loose ends, and he's at loose ends. The sooner they get tied up, the better," was the way she put it.
"But hold on!" cried Quin, sitting up in bed. "I can't do that, you know; I've got to get on my feet first."
"How are you going to get on your feet until you get your strength back?"
demanded Madam. "You look like going to work, don't you?"
"Well, the doctor has promised me I can go out on Saturday. I ought to be able to go to work in a couple of weeks."
"Couple of fiddle-sticks! Dr. Rawlins told me it would be two months before you would be fit for work, and even then you would have to be careful."
"Well, you don't think I am going to let Miss Nell in on a deal like that, do you?" Quin's voice broke and he gripped Eleanor's hand until she winced.
"But, Quin, I want it to be now," Eleanor begged. "Grandmother and I have gone over it from every standpoint, and she's come to see it as I do. You need me, and I need you. Why can't you be sensible and see it as we do?"
How Quin ever withstood those pleading tones and beseeching eyes, it is impossible to say. But withstand them he did, announcing stubbornly that it was bad enough for a girl to marry a chap with broken bellows; but for her to marry one she would not only have to nurse, but support as well, was not to be thought of. There was but one thing to do, and that was to wait.
Then it was that Madam, who had been reasonably patient up till now, lost her temper and delivered an ultimatum.
"You'll marry her now or not at all," she thundered. "I am sick and tired of the way you try to run this family, Quinby Graham! For more than a year now you have carried things with a high hand. You got Ranny out of the factory and on a farm. You married Enid to Francis Chester, and sent them to California. You made me let Eleanor go to New York, and came very near landing her on the stage for good. And now, when I have been persuaded into letting the child marry you, you are not satisfied, but insist on doing it at your own time and in your own way!"
"You forgot one thing, granny," suggested Eleanor demurely. "He made you have the operation."
Madam was not to be diverted. She glared at Quin like an angry old lioness.
"Are you going to do as I advise?" she demanded.
"No; not until I get a job." Quin's jaw was set as firmly as hers, and their eyes measured each other's with equal determination.
"Well, then I'll give you a job," she announced with sudden decision.
"I'll send you to China."
"To China?"
"Yes. Bartlett & Bangs has just opened a branch house in Shanghai. They are looking for a man to take charge of it. Your knowledge of the language would make up for your lack of experience. Besides, the sea voyage will do you good."
"Do you mean it?" cried Quinn eagerly. "Would Mr. Bangs agree?"
"Geoffrey Bangs would take you back at the factory to-morrow. But I don't want you there, under him. I want to turn you loose on China. It's the only place I know that's big enough to exhaust your energies. You will probably have the entire country plowing up its ancestors before spring."
"And what about you?" said Quin, turning eagerly to Eleanor. "Would you go with me?"
"_Will_ I?" said Eleanor, her eyes dancing.
That night, when Miss Isobel was tucking Madam into bed, she made bold to ask her how she happened to give her consent to the wedding.
"Isobel," said Madam, cocking a wise old eye, "it might as well be now as later. When a man like Quinby Graham makes up his mind to marry a certain girl, the devil himself can't stop him!"