All he needed was a real interest in life, and a
chance to work things out for himself."
"It's what we all need," Eleanor said gloomily. "I wish I could do what I
liked."
"What would you do?"
"I'd go straight to New York and study for the stage. It isn't a
whim--it's what I've wanted most to do ever since I was a little girl. I
may not have any great talent, but Papa Claude thinks I have. So does
Captain Phipps. To have to wait a whole year until I'm of age is too
stupid for words. It's just some more of grandmother's tyranny, and I'm
not going to submit much longer; would you?"
Quin contemplated his clasped fists earnestly. For the first time, his
belief in the consent of the governed admitted of exceptions.
"I'd go a bit slow," he said, feeling his own way cautiously. "This stage
business is a doubtful proposition. I don't see where the fun comes in,
pretending to be somebody else all the time."
"You would if you didn't like being yourself. Besides, I don't live my
own life as it is."
"You will some day--when you get married."
"But that's just it! I don't intend to marry--I am going to devote my
whole life to my work."
Quin, having but recently recovered from the fear that she was
contemplating matrimony, now underwent a similar torture at her avowal
that she was not.
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