"Do get in," she said as Jackson brought the automobile to a throbbing halt once he was on the highway. "I want to talk to you, anyway. What do you suppose is the matter with Ralph Endicott?" "Huh? Oh, sugar! Why don’t you ax me to explain this here fourth dimension they talk so much about? I can easy tell how wide, high, and thick Ralph Endicott is," and his eyes twinkled despite his inner trouble. "But I can’t tell you the _why_ of him. That’s beyond all nater." "Then you do not really know why he has gone away?" "Oh, sugar! He _has_ gone, has he? I’d disremembered. He did bid me an’ Heppy good-bye night b’fore last." "He went away with his trunk yesterday afternoon. Jerome told me nobody knew at the house where Ralph was going. They did not dare tell Professor Endicott, for he was completely submerged in some experiment and had locked the laboratory door. Ralph tucked a note under the door when he left." "You don’t say?" "Did he not explain to you, Mr. Bassett?" "Not a word." "Nor to us. He came over and bade us good-bye just before he left, in a very formal way. I did not get a word with him alone. Aunt Ida asked him where he was going, and he said he could not tell just where he would finally bring up. Tobias Bassett!" "Yes, ma’am?" "I believe Ralph has gone away to get a job of work and is ashamed to tell us." "If it’s honest work he ain’t no call to be ashamed." "Too proud to tell us, then," flashed the girl. "That sounds more likely." "Anyway, he’s gone!" She could not hide something besides vexation in her voice. Disturbed as Tobias was by his own trouble, he marked this fact. He believed his matchmaking scheme, as far as Lorna was concerned, was working! "Hard work never hurt nobody." He firmly believed this fallacy. "And Ralph is rugged and capable." "But he has not been trained to any kind of work," cried the girl with anxiety. "Why ain’t he? He can do most anything any other fellow can on a ship. And he’s got a good idea of navigation into the bargain. He favors the sea, too." "A sailor!" There was dread more than disapproval in Lorna’s tone. She had never forgotten Miss Heppy’s explanation of her own fear and hatred of the sea. She repeated: "A sailor!" "No. A mate. Then a skipper. A lad like Ralph can soon work up——" "And is that all his college training can do for him?" "College l’arnin’ won’t hurt him none for a sea-farin’ life," said Tobias complacently. "He can aspire to walkin’ the bridge of one o’ them big liners. You hafter be part dancin’ master as well as navigator to sit at the head o’ the captain’s table on one o’ them floatin’ palaces. Ralph would shine there." "Oh, Mr. Bassett! he would not be so foolish, would he? I wish I had offered to lend him some money—enough money to straighten out the family’s affairs." "Do you cal’late what I told you I’d heard whispered about the professor foolin’ away their money is so?" asked Tobias slyly.