Her countenance grew overcast. He was touched to note it, inferring from this manifest regret at his departure that he had made a friend in Mrs. Quinn. “And when do you go?” she asked him, oddly breathless. “In a week’s time.” She considered him, mournfully he thought; and he also thought that she lost some of her bright colour. “And to the Indies!” she ejaculated slowly. “Lord! Among savages and heathen blacks! Why, you must be crazed to think of it.” “Beggars may not choose, ma’am. I go where I can find employment. Besides, it is not as bad as you imagine.” “But where’s the need to go at all, when, as I’ve told you already, such a man as yourself should be thinking of settling down at home and taking a wife?” She realized that the time had come to deliver battle. It was now or never. And thus she sent out a preliminary skirmishing party. “Why, look at yourself,” she ran on, before he could answer. “Look at the condition of you.” And she pointed a denunciatory finger at the great hole in the heel of his right stocking. “You should be seeking a woman to take care of you, instead of letting your mind run on soldiering in foreign parts.” “Excellent advice,” he laughed. “There is one difficulty only. Who takes a wife must keep a wife, and, if I stay in England, I shan’t have enough to keep myself. So I think it’ll be the Indies, after all.” She came to the table, and leaned upon it, facing him. “You’re forgetting something. There’s many a woman well endowed, and there’s many a man has taken a wife with a jointure who couldn’t ha’ taken a wife without.” “You said something of the kind before.” Again he laughed. “You think I should be hunting an heiress. You think I have the figure for the part.” “I do,” said she, to his astonishment. “You’re a proper man, and you’ve a name and a position to offer. There’s many a wealthy woman of modest birth would be glad of you, as you should be glad of her, since each would bring what the other lacks.” “Faith! You think of everything. Carry your good offices further than mere advice, Mrs. Quinn. Find me this wealthy and accommodating lady, and I’ll consider the rejection of this Indian office. But you’ll need to make haste, for there’s only a week left.” It was a laughing challenge, made on the assumption that it would not be taken up, and, as she looked away uncomfortably under his glance, his laughter increased. “That’s not quite so easy as advising, is it?” he rallied her. She commanded herself, and looked him squarely in the eyes. “Oh, yes, it is,” she assured him. “If you was serious I could soon produce the lady--a comely enough woman of about your own age, mistress of thirty thousand pounds and some property, besides.” That sobered him. He stared at her a moment; the pipe between his fingers. “And she would marry a vagabond? Odds, my life! What ails her?” “Naught ails her. If you was serious I’d present her.”