e anything! What's the use? Nobody believes me. Even you
are siding with grandmother and suspecting me of breaking my word. I
don't intend to submit to it any longer!"

Queer, spasmodic movements were going on in Quin's lungs, and he
controlled his voice with difficulty.

"You mean you are going on seeing Mr. Phipps and letting him send you
flowers and things?"

"I am _not!_" Eleanor cried furiously. "But, if I should, it's nobody's
business but my own!"

For an agonizing moment they faced each other angrily, both of them lost
in the labyrinth of their own situation. At the slightest plea for help
on her part, Quin would have broken through his own difficulties and
rushed to her rescue. He would even have offered to plead her cause again
at the family tribunal. But she was like a wilful child who is determined
to walk alone on a high and dangerous wall. The very effort to protect
her might prove disastrous.

"If that's the case," said Quin, with his jaw thrust out and his nostrils
quivering, "what do you want me to do?"

"I don't care what you do!" Eleanor flung back--"just so you leave me
alone."

Without a word, he picked up his hat and strode out of the apartment and
down the stairs. At every landing he paused, hoping against hope that she
might call him back. Even at the door he paused, straining his ears for
the faintest whisper from above. But no sound broke the stillness, and
with a gesture of despair he flung open the door and passed out into the
darkness.

CHAPTER 31

When an extremely energetic person has spent eighteen months making
connections with a family, he does not find it easy to sever them in a
day. Quin's announcement that he was going to leave the Martels met with
a storm of protest. He had the excellent excuse that when Cass married in
June there would be no room for him, but it took all his diplomacy to
effect the change without giving offense. Rose was tearful, and Cass
furious, and a cloud of gloom enveloped the little brown house.

With the Bartletts it was no easier. On his return from New York he had
found three notes from them, each of which requested an immediate
interview. Madam's stated that she had heard of his dismissal from the
factory and that she was ready to do battle for him to the death.
"Geoffrey Bangs got rid of Ranny," she wrote, "and now he thinks he can
ship you. But I guess I'll show him who is the head of the firm."

The s