"About my coming to see you."
She took shelter in a subterfuge.
"I told you that the family was horrid to everybody that came to see me. To tell you the truth, I don't think you would be comfortable."
"I'm not afraid of 'em," Quin insisted fatuously. "I'd butt in anywhere to get to see you."
Eleanor's eyes dropped under his gaze.
"You don't know my grandmother," she said; "and, what is much more important, she doesn't know you."
"No, but she might like to," urged Quin, with one of his most engaging smiles. "Old ladies and cats always cotton to me."
Eleanor laughed. It was impossible to be dignified and superior with a person who didn't know the first rules of the game.
"She might," she admitted; "you never can tell about grandmother. She really is a wonderful person in many ways, and just as generous and kind when you are in trouble! But she says the most dreadful things; she's always hurting people's feelings."
"She couldn't hurt mine, unless I let her," said Quin.