“No.  At first I thought I would do so, but he looked so down-and-out that I didn’t have the heart to say anything and perhaps make him feel worse.”

“Do you suppose he has any money?” asked Tom.

“He didn’t look as if he had.  But you never can tell with such fellows as Crabtree—­ he was a good deal of a miser.”

“What a misspent life his has been!” was Dick’s comment.  “I am mighty glad that he didn’t get the chance to marry Mrs. Stanhope.”

“Right you are, Dick!” returned Tom.  “He’d make a hard kind of a father-in-law to swallow!”

It did not take long for Dick and Tom to acquaint Sam with the new money problem that confronted them, and the youngest Rover became equally worried over the situation.

“I think we had better write to Uncle Randolph and see if he can find out a little about this land company affair from father without, of course, worrying him too much,” suggested Dick.  “There may be some loophole out of this trouble—­ although I am afraid there isn’t.”

“All right, we’ll do it,” said Tom, and the letter was written at once, and sent to Dexter’s Corners with a special delivery stamp attached.

On the following afternoon when Tom and Sam got back to the hotel, a surprise awaited them.  Going up to the suite occupied by Dick and Dora, the brothers found themselves confronted by Nellie and Grace.

“Oh, Tom!” was all Nellie could say.  And then coming straight forward she threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.

“Now—­ now, don’t go on this way, Nellie,” he stammered, not knowing what to say.  “It’s all right.  They’ve got the ring and you are cleared.  What’s the use of crying about it now?”

“Oh, but—­ but I can’t help it!” sobbed the girl.  “You don’t know how I have suffered!  I couldn’t sleep nights, or anything!  Oh, Tom! it was grand—­ the way you got that gardener to confess;” and she clung to him tighter than ever.

“And to think he put the ring in the inkwell!” cried Grace.  “What a ridiculous thing to do!”

“He must have done it on the spur of the moment,” said Sam.  “But say, I’m mighty glad that affair is cleared up!” he added, his face beaming.

Then all of the young folks sat down, and the story had to be told once more in all of its details.

“I just had to come on!  I couldn’t stay home after I got the telegram and the letter,” explained Nellie, “so I sent a telegram to Dora.”

“We planned to surprise you,” put in Grace.

“And it is a surprise, and a nice one,” returned Sam.  Soon Dick, who had been somewhat detained, came in, and then there was more excitement.

“Well, what about accommodations for the girls?” asked Dick, who never forgot the practical side of matters.

“Oh, that is all arranged, Dick,” answered his wife.  “I have a room for them, and as your wife I am to be their chaperon;” and she smiled brightly as she passed her hand over his forehead.  “Poor boy, with so much to do!” she added, affectionately.