The next hour was one Eleanor never forgot. She and Quin, confident of the success of their conspiracy, were also jubilant over what they regarded as Mr. Ranny's possible emancipation. They already saw him a reformed character, a prosperous and contented farmer, no longer a menace to the peace of the family. So elated were they that, instead of going to the road, they explored the woods, and ended by racing down the hill like a couple of irresponsible children. When they at last got back to the car, Eleanor, disheveled and limp, sank on the running-board and laughingly made room for Quin beside her. She had quite forgotten to be grown up and temperamental, a fact that Quin was prompt to take advantage of. "See here!" he said. "Am I going to get a commission for all this?" "How much do you want?" "I want a lot!" he threatened. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, tracing figures in the sand with his shoe. Eleanor noticed the nice way his hair grew on the back of his neck and the white skin that met the clear brown skin at the collar-line. In spite of his bigness and his strength, he seemed very young and defenseless when it came to his dealings with girls. It was useless to deny that she knew what he wanted. His eyes had been saying it persistently each time they had met hers for three months. They had whispered it after that first dance at the Hawaiian Garden; they had murmured it through the hospital days; they had shouted it this afternoon at Uncle Ranny's, so loud that she thought every one must surely hear. But when a young lady is engaged in the exciting business of playing with fire she doesn't always heed even a shouted warning. As long as she was very careful, she told herself, and snuffed out every blaze that threatened to become unmanageable, no damage would be done. The present moment was one requiring snuffers. "We can't begin to pay you what we owe you," she said in her most conventional tone. "If things go as we hope they will, it will mean everything to Uncle Ranny as well as to Papa Claude." "I didn't do it for them only," Quin blurted out. "I didn't want you to borrow money from Captain Phipps." The temptation to encourage this special spark was not to be resisted. "You don't love Mr. Phipps very much, do you?" she said. "No; do you?" "Well, I _like_ him. He is one of my very best friends." "Am I?" demanded Quin with terrible directness. It was Eleanor's turn to trace patterns in the sand. "Well, you see----" she began. "No, I don't." Quin rose indignantly. "There's nobody in the world that would do any more for you than I would. I may be chasing the kite in thinking that you _want_ me to do anything, but if you'll just let me under the ribbon, you bet your life I'll give Phipps and the rest of the talent a run for their money!" He stood staring hard down the road for a moment, while she sat in embarrassed silence; then he broke forth again: