| Show i the BLIND BLI ND MANS S EYES dy by william Willi Qin machara edwin balmer illustrations BY R H U aston copyright yr bt b by attis laro crown and d company AN ACCIDENT warden seattle 1 gabriel tells hla his butler he is expecting st without caller to ue do admitted a lie he informs ilia his wife of question langer danger ULM th threatens him it if he pursues a course he considers confide rs the only aly honorable liono rabla one warden leaves the he house in his car and meets meats a man nan whom he takes into the ma chine alne when the ca car r r returns home W varden arden la is found dead murdered and nd alone tile the caller a young at wardens house anan biao has been leab con but ut leaves unobserved conductor receives reedia es orders to biery ery hold old train for EL a party five men man and nd a girl board tile the train the eastern astern express the f father ather of the girl irl tir mr dome to Is the P person 0 roon tor for whom bom the tha train was held P philip 1 eaton a young man also boarded the train dorne dome tells hla his daughter aughter and hla his secretary don avery very to ind find out what they can concerning him the two make batons afons acquaintance dome to Is found und nearly dead from a murder ous js fis assault bault A surgeon operates dorne orns la Is revealed as basil santine colne tolne blind and a power in the financial world as aa the adviser of big interests eaton Is suspected and id questioned he refuses anfor mation atlon about himself and admits admit he 3 was the caller at wardens vV arden house ause eaton pleads W with ith harriet Sant olne to withhold judgment telling lulng berhe her he Is in serious danger though lough innocent of tho the crime against alast her lather father ile ho feels the girl rl believes hir Sant olne t ers a sufficiently to ciu question cation eaton aho vho ho refuses hla identity tho financier requires eaton to accod pany iny ulm to the santo Bant olne ine home as a aerni eaton baton meeta meats a resident of the house wallace li latchford and mildred davis a stenographer eno grapher with whom he la is ao ac quainter quain tainted ted though they conceal the fact ct batons mission to Is to secure certain docu documents mentA which are vital to his interests CHAPTER XI continued 9 eaton ton drew further back into the alkove e na as some one passed through the hall above the footsteps ceased overhead bead eaton assured no one was coming ig down the stairs spoke swiftly to tell 11 her as much as he might in their moment he Sant olne taken i ill on the train edith he be was attack led ad Attack tacked edIll her lips barely moved he 3 was almost killed but they concealed aled it edith pretended he be was only ill I 1 was on the train you know i of course I 1 got your wire and mey suspected me of the attack you u but they find out about you hugh they are investigating san tolne colne would not let them make any thing thin public ho he brought roe me here while ho he Is trying jo find out ab about out ine so im hero here edith herol here I 1 it Is it here too again steps sounded la in the tha ban ball above the girl giri swiftly busted busied her telf elf with gloves and hat eaton stood taik in cusp suspense ense the servant above it was a servant they had heard belore before he recognized now merely crossed troa froin one room to another overhead now the girls lips moved again it she formed the question noiselessly the draft of tho the new agre agreement n e nt it either has baa been sent to him or it will be sent to him very soon here where will it be when it Is herem here where mere oh ill I 1 the girls eyes went to the wall close to where ea eaton ton stood silo aho seemed to measure with them a definite distance from the d door and a point shoulder high and to resist the impulse to come over and put her hand upon the spot asea As enton followed her look he be heard a slight blight and muffled click as if from the study but no sound could reach them through the study doors and what lie he board beard came from the wall itself A safer he be whispered yes miss alias Sant olne chels in there bhe closed it just now there tire are two wo of them bidden behind the books book ono one on each side aide of the door doo artt baton joanon tapped gently on tho the wall the tha wall was brick ahr safe undoubtedly was backed with steel the ne boat best way to Is from i inside the room he concluded she nodded yom tea if you yon w w look LoW out outi 1 someone now illow was coming do down the girl bad timo only to whisper swiftly if we dont eel a ch taw to speak again watch that tha t vase 1 she pointed to a bronzo bronze tin an tique which stood on n table near them when im sure the agreement la Is in tile the house ril ill drop a glove but ton in that a black one if I 1 think bd in the estifo on oil tho the right white on tile loft now go eaton moved quietly on and into tile the draWl drawing tig room averys voice lin jill ined mediately lately afterward was wag heard lie he wits was to aless davis whom ho he had found tit in tile tho hallway eaton was waa certain thero there wits was no lie suspicion that lie ho hit had talked with tier lier there indeed avery seemed to suppose that raton was still in the lie study with Sant SaD olno toino it was tier her lapse then which w itch had lot let him out and had given him that chance but it was waa a lapse lio lie discovered which was wag not likely to favor hini him again from that time tillie while never held strictly in restraint lie found himself always in tho the sight bight of someone eaton let himself think idly icily about narelet how strange tier life had been that part of it at least which was vas spent ns as lie ho had gathered roost most of tier her waking hours of recent years had been spent with tier her father strange almost as tits his own and what a wonderful girl it had made of her clevet sweet lovable with more than a womans comans ordinary capacity for devotion and self but if tier her service to tier her father was not only on his personal side but if also silo pho was vils intimate in his bijil business affairs must silo she not therefore tb io have shored shared tile tho cruel code coda which had terrorized eaton for the last four fo ur years and kept him an exile in asia agin and which tit at tiny any hour yet threat ened to take tits his life A grim set camo came to batons lips ills his mind went aga again in to tits his own affairs CHAPTER XII the man from tho the train in the supposition that lie he was to hove have less liberty eaton proved correct Sant olne to whose impulses had beau due his first privileges showed toward him a constrained atti attitude tuto tile the following morning i she did not suggest hostility as ayery avery constantly did nor indeed was there any evidence of retrogression in her attitude toward him she seemed merely to be maintaining tilt th same position and since this seemed difficult if they were often together she avoided him eaton understood that Sant olne steadily improving but not yet able to leave his bed had bad taken up his work again propped up by pillows one of the nurses had bad been dismissed the other was only upon P on day duty but eaton did not see san colne tolne at all and though ho learned that miss davis or another stenographer her whose name was west came dally daily to tho the house he never nover was in a position again to encounter any outsider either coming or going there was no longer room for ea enton to doubt that harriet had the confidence of tier her father to almost a completo complete extent now that Sant olne was ill silo she worked with him dally daily for hours and eaton learned that she did the same when he was we well il but avery worked with the blind roan man too he too was certainly in a confidential capacity was ivas it not probable then that avery and not harriet was entrusted with the secrets of 0 dangerous and ugly matters or was it possible that I 1 this girl worshiping her father as she did could know and be sure that because her father approved these matters they were A hundred times a days day as eaton saw or spoke with the girl or thought of ifer h er presence near by this obsessed him A of times during their casual talk upon meeting at meals meala or elsewhere lie he found himself turned toward some ques question tion which would aid him in determining ning what hullt aub be tile the fact but each time ho he checked himself until one morning it wits was the tha fifth after his arrival at san house harriet haidt was waa taking him for his walk in the garden before the house she bho had just told him at his inquiry that her father was wall very much stronger that morning and her manner more than ever evidenced ev her pride in him they the y walked on slowly 1 1 I I wish you could tell me more about yourself M mr r eaton 1 I wish so too he said 11 then why can you noart not she turned to him frankly he gazed at her a m moment and then looked away and shook his head did she ehe know it nil of what was waa known even under her ber fathers father s I roof and if she knew all would aull sho then loathe or del defend lend it A mot motor or sped near halted and then speeded on again eaton looking up saw it was a runabout IV with ith avery alone in it evidently seeing them in the road avery bad halted to protest then thought better of it and gono gone on but other motors passed now with people who spoke to harriot harriet and who stopped to inquire for her ber father and wish him well tour father does not seem to be one of t tho ho great men without honor in his own neigh neighborhood bor bood eaton baton said to her after ono oho of these had bad halted and gone on 01 everyone who knows fattier father likes and j dmares him 1 she rejoiced 1 I dont mean exactly that eaton went jent on they must trust him too in un e extraordinary ra ordinary way Ms hla fass abeso 0 dates must place lost confidence fl in liliu jilin when they ketive to jilin him tile the adjustment of matters such as I 1 understand they to do lie tolls tells them what Is just and they by his decision shook tier hor head NO it quite that she sald what you are correct in saying that men inon of tile most opposite sorts tind mid most irreconcilable to each other con place their fate in Fat bors hand and oil whon when lie ho tells tella them what they filist do they alclo by ills his decision nut ho he decide for thorn them what Is just 11 1 I dont understand what does lie ho tell them then llo ile tells them what would bo be the outcome if they fought who would win and who would mould loso lose tin nd by how hov much and ana they believe jilin him and libido by ills decision without lighting fighting for lie he knows and they know that lie ho knows and Is absolutely honest iriton was silent for n moment ns as they walked along illow how can lie ho conle come to tits his decision lie ho asked nt at last 1 I 1 mean much of tile material presented to him must bo be documentary much aluch of it is 1 then someone must read it to him of courso course hilton enton started to speak then retrained refrained fra ined what were you going to say she questioned that the person or persons who reads the ho documents to him must occupy tin an extremely delicate position ile iio does in fact I 1 think that po sitton Is fathers ono one nightmare wight mare 7 tile the person he trusta must not only bo be absolutely discreet but absolutely sol honest 1 I should think so if anyone in that position wanted to use tile the information brought to your father ile he could make hIni himself self millions overnight undoubtedly and ruin other men mell and kill father too tho the girl added quietly yes tl silo she said ns as enton eaton looked at her father puts nothing above his trust if that trust were betrayed whether or not lot rather father were in any way to blame tor for it I 1 think it would kill him so you are tho the on one 0 who Is in eliat position 1 yes that Is I 1 havo bavo been you mean there Is another now that Is of course mr air averyl avery ryes here at this house avery and 1 I and mr air avery at tho the office before mr air avery came I 1 was tho the only one who helped hero bore nt at the house I when wits was that when mr avery aver come came about five years ago rather father had an immense amount of work tt ct that time business conditions were very muc unsettled there was trouble r rs that time between some of tile the big eastern and big western men and at the same time tile the government was prosecuting the trusts nobody knew what the outcome of it all would be many of the biggest men who consulted father were like men groping in tile the dark I 1 dont suppose you would remember the time by what I 1 say but yo you U would remember it as nearly everybody else does doca by this it was the time of tile the murder of mr batron In tron i yes I 1 remember that said lila ton und and mr avery came to you at that time yes just nt at that time I 1 w was as thrown from my horse and could not do as much as I 1 had been doing so 00 mr air avery was sent to father then mr avery was reading to him at tho the time you spoke of the time of th the e latron murder no mr avery came just afterward I 1 was reading to him at that time the papers papera must have been a good deal tor for a girl of eighteen at that time you mean 7 they were but father dared trust no one else s mr avery handles those matters now for your the continuation of what was go ing on then yes yea he took thera them up at the time 1 I was hurt and so BO has kept on looking after them for there has been plenty for ma to do without that und and those things have bavo all been more or less settled now they have worked themselves out as things illings do though they seemed almost unsolvable at the time ono one thing that helped in their solution was that father was able that time jime to urge what was just As as well as what was adlisa advisable bi le you mean that in the final settlement of them no one suffer suffered edV I 1 no one I 1 think except of course poor mr latron and that vas mas a private matter not connected in any direct way with tho the question at issue 1 why do you ask all this mr eaton catony 1 I was merely interested in you in what your worl work tins hat been with your father and what it Is he answered quietly they had been following tho 00 edge of the road she ehe along a path worn in the turf he ha on the edge of tho the road itself and nearer to the tracks of the motors suddenly she cr cried led out and clu clutched ached at him As AB they had bad stopped she ehe had bad heard beard the sound of a motor ilium rapidly from bo liand Iiii il ix except copt that lint this car fremed speeding faster lhnn tile tho othora others she had pill no na attention anti and had not turned instantaneously na is silo she I 1 ind cried anti and iIII pulled Ien upon silo lid had that tills this car wits waa not passing j it was directly behind and upon liliu felt him spring erring to tile tho aldo iia quickly ns ile ho could but hafar cry tint and pull upon him were almost too into us as h he lell ped tile tho car struck tho tha blow was aa gIntic glancing hig not directo direct and ho was oly tits lils foot feet and in motion when tile tho struck but tile tho cur car hurled lum him aside nud rolled him over and over As silo sho rushed to enton tho the two nion men in tho rear seat of tile tho car turned their bonds and looked back but without chocking checking its ita speed or swerving tile tho car dashed unshod on oil and disappeared down tile tho roadway rond sho she bent over eaton and took hold of him lie iio struggled to ills his feet and dazed tottered so that abu supported jilin him As aa clo cl 0 o realized that ho was in not greatly hurt silo stared with horror tit at tho the turn in tho the road where tho the car had disappeared why lie ha tried t to run you down I 1 iio he meant |
