"Just what do you mean?" she asked wonderingly. "Well, I do not feel myself bound to secrecy. It is Endicott’s affair. I only tell you what is common knowledge. There was a girl Endicott was chasing after more than a year ago." "Indeed?" said Lorna stiffly. "I do not believe I care to hear——" "Well, you wanted to know what the row was about, didn’t you?" he snarled. "I have mentioned Cora Devine before to you. I thought it was something of a joke then. But since I have found out that Endicott treated her very shabbily. She was a silly girl, I guess—one of that kind that believe everything a fellow like Endicott tells her. And she probably knew he was rich, too." "Oh!" gasped Lorna. "It’s a sordid piece of business," said Degger, ruminatively. "Whether he really did take her away from her folks or not, I don’t know. But she needs help now, and I heard about it. I put it up to Endicott and—well, you can see what I got for my pains," he concluded with a bitter laugh. Lorna was shaken by his words. She was disgusted and horrified. Ralph Endicott to be connected with such a sordid affair as this that Degger intimated? She could scarcely believe it. She thought she knew Ralph so well! "I cannot imagine Ralph doing such a thing as you suggest, Mr. Degger," she said gravely. "I think I know him quite as well as anybody—better than you do, for instance——" "I don’t doubt it," interposed Degger, grimly. "But a fellow is sometimes quite different away from home—and at college—from what he is among his family and friends." He laughed harshly. "Oh, Endicott knows the girl well. See here! This he tore from his address book and threw at me when he said he’d got through with her—well, you can look or not as you please," as Lorna turned her face from him. He had dragged from his pocket the crumpled leaf of a memorandum book and offered it to her. In spite of herself the girl could not refuse to look at it. She recognized a leaf of the little red book she had often seen in Ralph’s possession. Yes! That was his writing. She would know it anywhere. Boldly Ralph had set down: "Cora Devine "27 Canstony Street "Charlestown, Mass." Lorna was not likely to forget that name and address. A flame of anger shot all through her trembling body. She did not realize that Degger was watching her with sly delight at the mental pain he caused her. "I would not have believed!" she murmured. "Oh, Endicott is sly—dee-vilish sly," chuckled Degger. "But I guess Cora Devine has been causing him some worriment of late. She wants money. She’s been nagging him for it, like enough. That is what made him so sore, I suppose, when I tried to say a good word for her to him. "Oh, well! I was a fool. I assure you, Miss Nicholet, I’ve washed my hands of them both. If the girl finds a shyster lawyer to take up her case, Endicott will sweat. Let him. He deserves to."