Ralph’s expression changed. He wagged his head in a regretful negative. "No, uncle, I think not. Degger, even, was bound to learn in time that the Nicholets are not as well off as they are counted." "What? What’s that?" demanded the professor, startled. "Haven’t you heard anything about it?" "That the Nicholets have lost money?" "_All_ of their money. So I understand. I bet Lorna’s father has been speculating—and with her money and Miss Ida’s as well as his own." "Great heavens, Ralph! this is not a joke, is it?" gasped his uncle. "I don’t see anything to joke about in the loss of one’s fortune. Either it is so, or it is not so." "John Nicholet is visionary. He was at me not long ago to join in one of his financial schemes. I could not be bothered. Besides, I told him plainly I needed all my ready cash for these experiments I am making. "I—I—Ralph! If this is _true_—if our neighbors have sustained severe losses—surely you would not break off with Lorna because of that? What if she has no dowry?" "Uncle Henry!" "Of course not," said the professor hurriedly. "We have plenty of money, Ralph. There will be enough for you and Lorna. The little girl never need feel the pinch of poverty." "But suppose she will not have me in any case?" cried the younger man. "I can’t carry her off to the minister’s and marry her, willy-nilly." "Pooh! Pooh! Cave-man tactics are quite out of date. You are a most unromantic chap, Ralph. Why don’t you try to make the girl like you? And surely she _must_ marry somebody with money. It would be a calamity if she secured a penniless fellow like that Degger. "It is your duty, Ralph, to fulfil the plans made by the two families for your welfare and the girl’s. Under the disturbing circumstances you speak of, it is all the more important that you and Lorna come to a prompt understanding. Suppose they—Miss Ida, for instance—should believe for a moment that because of their misfortune we were—er—unwilling to have the engagement announced? Why, Ralph, the Endicott name would be forever disgraced!" "Huh!" "If Lorna’s fortune has been unwisely invested by her father—and Miss Ida’s money, too—something must be done about it! Something certainly must be done!" CHAPTER XVI POISON So near did Tobias Bassett’s matchmaking schemes come to naught that had he known it he would have—in his own words—"let go all holts." It seemed that his intimation to Ralph and Lorna regarding the supposed loss of their respective fortunes was a bubble that was bound to be punctured. For Professor Henry Endicott, in spite of his seemingly self-centered existence, possessed a proper share of kindliness, and considered the Nicholets’ financial troubles as his own.