A smile wreathed Professor Endicott's lips. He was an austerely handsome man with abundant hair which was gray only at the temples, and a smoothly shaven face. His eyes saw all there was to be seen through amber-tinted glasses.
That he kept much to himself, seemed not fond of society, and was wholly wrapped up in his experiments, made Professor Endicott seem less human than he really was. His sense of humor was by no means blunted.
"So you finally awoke to the presence of the worm in the apple?" he suggested.
"Degger has a dirty mouth. I had to stop it," muttered Ralph.
"It went as far as that?"
"Say! how am I going to tell Lorna who she shall, or shall not, associate with?"
"You should have a right to."
"Let me tell you, Uncle Henry, Lorna is not a girl to be bidden in any matter. No man will ever dominate her."
"You used to," said the professor, with a sudden smile.
"Yes. When we were kids. But no more. Believe me, Lorna is a young woman who knows her own mind and means to have her own way."