“Oh, I’m glad I was not along!” breathed Belle.
“And I wish I had been!” exclaimed Walter. “Jack, you and Ed had all the fun.”
“I didn’t do anything,” said Ed. “Jack was the hero.”
“Only a near-hero,” said Cora’s brother. “I didn’t get near enough to do any damage.”
Mr. Beacon, the lawyer, on hearing the account of what had happened, at once took steps to expedite the matter of the removal of Mr. Cross as guardian of Nancy Ford. He declared that the attempted abduction would operate against the unprincipled man. The matter of the loss of the money, for which Mrs. Raymond was once suspected, had been gone into, and the indications pointed in many ways to Mr. Cross and his crony.
“But it doesn’t seem as if Mrs. Raymond would ever be found,” sighed Cora. “Poor woman!”
“Yes, my sister must be having a hard time,” said the keeper of the light. “I wish she would come to me. I could give her a good home now. The work is almost too much for Rosalie.”
“Oh, I don’t mind, Daddy!” exclaimed the little “mermaid.”
Summer was wearing on. It had been a most glorious one and the bungalow residents had enjoyed it thoroughly. They went off on several motoring trips, but they were careful always to remain in one party, and even then Nancy could not forbear a nervous glance about whenever another auto approached.
But Mr. Cross appeared to have taken himself to parts unknown. Private detectives who were looking for him, on an order of the court to which Mr. Beacon had appealed, reported that they could get no trace of him. Nor was the whereabouts of the missing Mrs. Raymond discovered.