"What on earth did he mean?" she asked.
"He said you'd got 'most everything in life that he'd missed, but he'd hate to change places with you."
She lay perfectly still, staring at him with her small restless eyes, and when she spoke again it was to revert to the subject of burglars.
Quin was relieved. He had been skating on thin ice in discussing the Martels, for any moment might have brought up a question concerning Eleanor.
"I used to have a corporal that was an ex-burglar," he said, plunging into the new subject with alacrity. "First-rate fellow, too. Last I heard of him, he had a position as chauffeur with a rich old lady who lived alone up in Detroit. She had two burglar-alarm systems, but the joke of it was she made him sleep in the house for extra protection!"
"I suppose you are trying to frighten me off from engaging you?" Madam asked.
"Not exactly," Quin smiled. "Of course I'll come if you can't get anybody else. But there's no question of engaging me. If I come, I pay board."
Madam laughed aloud for the first time since her accident.
"Do you take me for a landlady?" she asked.
"Only when you take me for a night-watchman," said Quin.