"Come on, they may hear us."
"All right, I"m with you."
But, as they started away, Mr. Haley called to them:
"Boys, come here. I want----"
"No, no, Jim dear! Don"t call anyone!" interrupted Mrs. Raymond. "I dare not be seen. You don"t know the stigma I am under. I even hesitated to come and see you in this secret way, but I am in need of help. It was the only way I could think of. I am so--so afraid of arrest."
"Well, you needn"t be!" cried her brother. "We can prove your innocence!"
"Prove my innocence! How? Only Nancy Ford can do that, and she can"t be found, I have been searching for her so long--so long!" Her sobs prevented her from talking.
"But Nancy Ford is found!" cried the keeper of the light, "and the boys I called to--or rather their girl friends--found her. It"s all right, Margaret. Your name will be cleared, and you will be happy with me. It"s all right, Sister!"
"Oh, thank the dear Lord for that!" she sobbed.
CHAPTER x.x.x
HAPPY DAYS
The sun was shining on a shimmering sea. Little waves were breaking on the white sands. The gulls were wheeling about in big circles. Gathered in the old-fashioned living room of the lighthouse were the motor girls, and two other girls, Rosalie and Nancy Ford. Also the boys were there, Mrs.
Raymond, her brother, and Mr. Beacon, the Kimb.a.l.l.s" lawyer. He had just concluded some remarks. It was the day after the strange night scene at the Shark"s Tooth.
"And to think how it all came about," spoke Cora. "It is like a play, or a book."
"It fits together like one of those Chinese puzzles," remarked Jack. "At first it seems as if it never will, but one little touch, and--there you are!"
"And it was Cora who supplied the one little touch," said Belle.
"Oh, I didn"t do it all," remonstrated Cora.
"Well, your finding Mrs. Raymond in the burning garage started the whole affair," insisted Ed. "But for that we never would have known of Nancy Ford, nor how important she was in this puzzle."
"I don"t want to be important," answered Nancy, with a smile. "I just want to go off somewhere quietly."
"And you may," spoke Mr. Beacon, the lawyer, with a smile. "The court proceedings will not take long, now that your guardian is arrested. The judge will require no further proof than his commission of the crime to remove him from having charge of you and your property, and some one else will be named in his place."
"I wish the judge would name you!" exclaimed Nancy impulsively.
"Thank you!" laughed Mr. Beacon.
Mrs. Raymond had told her story. On up to the time she had fled from the office, when the two men came in, and her wanderings until she went into the Kimball garage, my readers need no enlightenment. After leaving Cora"s house so suddenly, for fear she might be suspected of having accidentally set the fire, the poor woman wandered from place to place, vainly seeking Nancy Ford. It was Mrs. Raymond whom the sheep herder had met that night when he spoke kindly to her. After that she kept moving about, getting work in various offices, for she was an expert in her line. But she could not find Nancy, for reasons very well known to my readers.
"And oh, how kind one of you girls was to me!" exclaimed Mrs. Raymond.
"Your money saved my life I believe," and she held out the little silver purse.
Finally, she explained, matters reached a point where she could get no more work, and she had to appeal to her brother. She had refrained from doing that fearing she might be traced through him, for she still feared she would be arrested for the crime she had never committed. But, growing desperate, she made the night appointment with her brother, hiring a boy to leave the note at the lighthouse, intending to explain matters to Mr. Haley, get some money, and go away again.
But it all ended happily.
"And so they caught Cross?" remarked Jack.
"Yes," said the lawyer, "one of the private detectives got a clue and followed it up. They got his crony, too, the other man who came in the office when you ran out, Nancy. And they both confessed, after pressure was brought to bear on them. It is not the first crime Cross has been guilty of. He has a bad record, I am told. I learned of his arrest after I started here this morning, following your telegram," he said to Cora, for, on learning of the arrival of Mrs. Raymond, Cora had wired to her mother"s lawyer to come in haste.
"Then my name is cleared?" asked Mrs. Raymond.
"Absolutely," answered Mr. Beacon. "You will not even have to appear in court."
"I wish _I_ didn"t have to," said Nancy, nervously.
"I can arrange to have a private hearing," went on the lawyer. "It will be no ordeal at all."
Nor did Nancy find it so. A kindly judge in his chambers, several days later, listened to the story, and named Mr. Beacon as guardian of Nancy Ford, whose property was, in the main, saved from the clutches of Mr.
Cross. He had embezzled some of it, and that crime, with others, brought him severe punishment.
As for Mrs. Raymond, she went to live with her brother in the lighthouse.
"And now for some good times!" exclaimed Cora when all the legal matters had been attended to. "We have had enough of mystery and wonderings. You can spend the rest of the summer here with us; can"t you, Nancy?"
"If you want me, and have room."
"Of course we want you!" cried Jack. "Remember you promised to ride in my car when we go over to Stony Beach to-morrow."
"I asked her first!" cried Norton.
"But she promised me," cut in Walter.
"Oh, what boys!" protested the blushing Nancy.
"Don"t mind them," suggested Cora, putting her arms around her new friend.
"You"ll soon get used to them."
"I think I can get used to almost _anything_--after that shipwreck," said Nancy, with a smile.
"Well, I like _that_!" cried Jack. "Comparing us to a shipwreck! Come on, fellows, let"s go fishing. The tide is right for crabbing, too," and they went out, leaving the girls to themselves.
"In spite of everything--the fire, the shipwreck and the many wonderings it has been a wonderful summer," said Cora softly, as they sat on the broad porch.
"And I wonder what the winter will bring forth--and next summer?" remarked Belle. But the further adventures of the little band of friends must be reserved for another volume, which will be ent.i.tled "The Motor Girls on Crystal Bay; Or, The Secret of the Red Oar."
The summer vacation was almost at an end. There was one last motor boat trip, and then the _Duck_ was returned to its owner, and the _Pet_ again made ready for the land journey back to Chelton.
"Good-bye, bungalows, good-bye!" recited Cora on the day of their departure, as she got into her big maroon car.