"Nothing of the kind!" she cried. "It is ridiculous. And you—— Why! we were told—— Where could Lorna have heard it? We believed you had lost the greater part of your property. I came over here this morning to offer assistance. I was afraid you had shut yourself up here in this awful place, worrying over your losses. Oh, Henry!" Suddenly he smiled. Like Ralph’s, the professor’s smile was a most winning one. But it was not wholly the warmth of that smile that drew the woman closer to him. "Ida," he said, in some wonderment, "would you have done that for me?" "We—we have been friends so many years, Henry." The flush in her cheek was like a girl’s, but she did not drop her gaze. She met his look squarely. "So many wasted years, Ida," the man repeated softly. "You don’t seem to have wasted them after all, Henry," she breathed. "I only _thought_ you were a waster. You know I always did despise any person who, in this busy and needy world, was non-productive." Professor Endicott glanced about the laboratory. He shrugged his shoulders. "All this is vanity, Ida," he said. "Financial gain is a very small part of life. We have existed, you and I, that is all—merely vegetated. What we should have had—what was meant for us—has been lost. We are bankrupt, Ida." "No, no!" His grasp of her hands relaxed. Her left hand stole up, up—across his shoulder and around his neck. She pressed against him and at last her gaze fell. "No, no!" she whispered. "Not bankrupt, Henry. It is not too late——" A little later Miss Ida raised her head from the professor’s shoulder. Her eyes were tear-drenched, but her smile was warm. "Henry," she said, "I had forgotten. Do you know that they accuse Ralph of helping to rob the Clinkerport Bank?" CHAPTER XXVI HIGH TIDE Tobias Bassett for probably the second time in his life (the first occasion was when Conway Degger left the Twin Rocks Light) did not urge his visitor to lengthen his call. He followed the detective outside the door, however, and watched Rafe Silver get the blue limousine under way for Lower Trillion. "I hope I see the last of you in this neighborhood right now," muttered the lightkeeper, referring to the detective. "You’re a Jonah, that’s what you are." He went around to the exposed side of the tower and faced the wind, sheltering his eyes with his hand from flying spray and sand. He peered seaward. "It’s comin’," he thought. "I give it as my opinion that she’s going to be a humdinger of a tide. Why, right now it’s above usual high-water mark, and ’tis still two hours and more to full sea. It’s comin’. "And that schooner—if that is the _Nelly G._ we spied off to the south’ard—she’s in a bad fix. No doubt on’t. Oh, sugar! I wish that gal hadn’t peeked through the old telescope and seen her."