hen Eleanor and Quin had returned
from Chicago. He and Madam Bartlett sat facing each other in the
sepulchral library, where the green reading-light cast its sickly light
on Lincoln and his Cabinet, on Andrew Jackson dying in the bosom of his
family, on Madam savagely gripping the lions' heads on the arms of her
mahogany chair.

That her quarrel with Eleanor and the girl's subsequent flight had made
the old lady suffer was evinced by the pinched look of her nostrils and
the heavy, sagging lines about her mouth; but in her grim old eyes there
was no sign of compromise.

"Very well!" she said. "Let her stay at her precious Martels'. She will
stand just about one week of their shiftlessness. I shan't send her a
stitch of clothes or a cent of money. Maybe I can starve some sense into
her."

Quin traced the pattern in the table-cover with a massive brass
paper-knife. It was a delicate business, this he had committed himself
to, and everything depended upon his keeping Madam's confidence.

"You never did try letting her have her head, did you?" He put the
question as a disinterested observer.

"No. I don't intend to until she gets this fool stage business out of her
mind."

"Well, of course you can hold that up for six months, but you can't stop
it in the end."

"Yes, I can, too. I'd like to know if I didn't keep Isobel from being a
missionary, and Enid from marrying Francis Chester when he didn't make
enough money to pay her carfare."

"That's so," agreed Quin cheerfully. "And then, there was Mr. Ranny." He
waited for the remark to sink in; then he went on lightly: "But say! They
all belong to another generation. Things are run on different lines these
days."

"More's the pity! Every little fool of a kite thinks all it has to do is
to break its string to be free."

"Miss Nell don't want to break the string; she just wants it lengthened."

Madam turned upon him fiercely.

"See here, young man. You think I don't know what you are up to; but,
remember, I wasn't born yesterday. If Eleanor has sent you up here to
talk this New York stuff----"

"She hasn't; I came of my own accord."

"Well, you needn't think just because I've shown you a few favors that
you can meddle in family affairs. It's not the first time you've attended
to other people's business."

Her fingers were working nervously and her eyes beginning to twitch. She
made Quin think of Minerva when Mr. Bangs came into the office.

"I bet there's one