.

"Because we have no elevator, and it's quite a step to the top of the
tower."

"Oh, we can do it," Cora declared.

They were shown through the light, and the keeper explained how, by means
of clock-work, propelled by heavy weights, the great lens was revolved,
making the flashing light. It turned every five seconds, sending out a
signal that all the mariners knew, each lighthouse being in a different
class, and the signals they gave, either fixed or stationary, being
calculated to distinguish different parts of the coast where danger lies.

On their return to the neat parlor, on the appearance of which the girls
complimented Rosalie, who kept house for her father--his wife being
dead--Cora saw a photograph lying on the centre table. At the sight of
it she exclaimed:

"That is she!"

"Who? What do you mean?" cried Mr. Haley. "That is my sister!"

"And it is the woman who was in our barn!" Cora said. "I have thought all
along it was. Now I am sure of it. Mr. Haley, I am sure I do not want to
pry into your family affairs, but your daughter said something about her
aunt being missing, and how worried you were. I am sure we have met her
since--since her trouble. Perhaps we can help you."

"Oh, if you only could!" exclaimed the light keeper. "My poor sister!
Where can she be?"

"Suppose you tell me a little about her, and then I--and my friends--can
decide whether the woman we met is the one pictured there," and Cora
passed the photograph to Bess.

"There isn't much to tell," said the keeper of the light, slowly. "My
sister is a widow. After her husband died she went to Westport to work in
an office. She had been a clerk before her marriage. Everything seemed
to go well for a time and she occasionally wrote to me how much she liked
it. A friend of hers was in the same building.

"Then my sister's letters ceased suddenly. I got worried and wrote to her
friend. I got an answer, saying there had been a robbery in the office
where my sister worked, and that my sister had disappeared. A young girl
left at the same time, and there was some doubt about the robbery, though
two men were mentioned as being concerned in it. But my poor sister must
have felt that they would suspect her--and she never would take a pin
belonging to anyone else. But she went away, and I've tried all means to
locate her, but I can't. It has me worried to death, nearly."

"What was your sister's name?" asked Cora.

"Margaret Raymond."

"T