| Show vo arld man 04 tayeb T BY WILLIAM macharg I 1 EDWIN BALMER and company by littia drown brown gl continued CHA ils 1 with tier dis begioni ng 1 0 told oyo him in the garage n nd 4 ry with of faton sg his ae leaving ing her and with da her in the moda fin saverys dA avery 0 h L bield S back ono one word isaid told her he had chis name IV wh ich intently 1 errio lie r ar Tr father eaton listened appe rio arto have d iou an rather r well aca acq acquainted ua ilar har he told you n othi has said fald id he have not himself IvIll cl you I 1 about hvos nothing con seen have yo U not ahta almo which you have not back to the ier d went an quickly flush which his 1 she felt a a ff jame yes could not see dyeing her ber i and fore forehead liend waited for or a mohe man out ot his hand blind pressed put 11 bell alch which called the steward until tho the steward time came ibber tier spoke Sant olno olne said then y S Sant olne and I 1 hove have just sed d that for the present oil all reports S the pursuit of the men who y ered the study last night are to nade made direct to me not through es Sant olne or mr A avery very very tery well sir 9 still sat silent af after ter the steward tor for an instant d cone she thought r father had bad forgotten her ber presence m fl he moved slightly that at la in all dear lie he said quietly she got up and left him and went her own rooms she did not pretend herself that sho she could rest she 1 thed and dressed and went down lira rs the library had windows fac f to the west she went in there id A stood looking out her mind was upon only ono one thing an en of that she could not think c con on some years ago something obe ghe did not know whitt what had hap ned med to hugh tonight in some borne range nun way unknown to her it had in her fathers study he ad ad fought someone he ha had rushed way to follow someone whom led ad he heard that someone in the tady and gone down had he been guting their battlo battle her fathers and erst she know that was not so go lugh jugh had been fully dressed what id 11 it mean that he be had said lo 10 0 o her list these events would either detroy himor him or would send him back to ier ler as as 08 something different her thought supplied no answer but whatever ha ba had done whatever he might be she know knew his fate waa wa 11 hers lera now for sha sh had bad given herself to 0 him utterly she had bad told that to herself na as she fled and pursued with I 1 win ro that night she had told it to him ithe 4 he later had told it though she haj had not hot meant to yut yet to her father she wild could only pray now that out of the arenta of this night might not come aa grief to her too groat great for her to bear ear she went to the rooms that had been batons tre tr e police n them of his possessions bad overlooked his cap ahe she found the bit of ray MY doth cloth find and hugged bugged it to her she jibe whispered Ms ids name to herself hugh that secret of his name which the had kept appt she gloried that she ehe had that secret with him which she could keep from them all what they give just to share that with her hep its hl name hugh I 1 she started suddenly looking i rough the window tho the east above the atie lake was beginning to grow gray rhe me dawn was coming t it was waa be Ing to be day I 1 she hurried to the other side of tte the house looking toward the west HOW could sho she have left him hurland hurt hur tand and bi beeding needing eding and alone in the night 1 I she could not have done that but that his in J her er to go had ta told chaj it wai ana for his safety aty as well as hers i she bould IS not help hir alln any more then she he would only have been in the way aut co started to rush out t but patrolled oat rolled herself she had to stay la in the hyhouse house that t wa was where the first ivor S d would come it they then 0 he wlm him teach would need ie r he ea 11 morel the reporters portera re on the ll below 1 low dow her seeing heeln her at ther te in ther th called r up P to her er to know fur p particulars of what w had hop hap she ad what tho the murder meant could 1 creavin see them plainly 0 in o the tn in n g light 1 bavm she could see chiy th a 11 edthe d the day 0 had come roal road before the house 0 oay and the coming conlong ot of day baythe the un about sol t the y and add disorder dl within and house seemed to io increase I 1 but t in ID the mouth th it wing with aund proof doors doore and od its windows allwn against the not noles es from the wn th bile bae there iva waa I S and ln in this nce machine an n ex act impelling compelling met methodic hodle 13 kas a a it santola n t was working si the mind ot of yet but bui 0 was vainly tin as cess to y with it grovling grov ving 8 chances of sue juc aich ach n n they the i to w the wv order in IU iney y belonged mud and the m make inake clear events event 0 of f the P went alg at d bg an and al nil I 1 that cona b becos e f n nai order tax testing discarding picking up again and reordering all that had happened since that other murder of gabriel warden CHAPTER what one ona can do without eyes three men ut at least three nion men had find fought in the study in San presence Pc sence EC ecton ton it was certain had been the only ne mo from tile the house present when tho the first shots were fired had hn eaton been alone against tile tho other two had E eaton anton been with one of the other two against the third it appeared probable to Sant olne that eaton baton had been alone or had come collie alone to io tile the study and had met ills hla enemies there Sant olne felt that the probabilities were that batons enemies ene niles had opened the safe and had been surprised by eaton but if they had opened the safe they were not only batons enemies they were also San they were the men who threatened sun san trust those whom eaton had fought in the room had had bad perfect opportunity for killing Sant olne if they wished but Sant olno felt certain no one had made dado any attack upon him t any moment tn in the room he had had find no feeling at any instant that any adv of the ahe shots fired had been directed at him blatchford blat ceford too had been until ho he had made it plain that ho he had bad recognized one of the intruders then before blatchford atchford Dl could call the name ho he had been shot down it was clear then that what had protected Sant olna was his blindness he had bad no doubt that if he had been able to see and recognize tho the men in the room after tha lights were turned on he would have been shot down also but Sant olne recognized that this did not fully account for his immunity two weeks before an attack which had been meant for hat eaton on had struck down Sant olne instead ond and no further attempt against eaton had been made until it had become publicly known that Sant olne was not going to die if San death would have served for batons death two weeks before why was Sant olne immune now did possession of the th contents of San safe accomplish the sarno same thing as San death or more than hi his death for these men for what men it was not Sant olne was certain batons presence in the study which had so astounded blatchford latchford Il wallace and eaton hod had passed days together and blatchford was accustomed to ea tons presence presen cd in the house someone whom blatchford knew and whose name bazilo Sant olne also would know and whose presence in the room was so BO strange and astonishing that blotch blatch ford fordham had tried to prepare Sant olne for the announcement had bad been there the man whose name was on blotch blatch fords forda tongue or the companion of that man had shot blatchford Blatch tord rather than let Sant olne hear the name lie he was beginning to find events fit themselves together but they fitted imperfectly as yet Sant olne know knew that ho he lacked the key many men could profit by possessing the contents content of San safe and might have shot blatchford rather than let Sant olne know their presence there it was impossible for Sant olne to tell which among these many the man who had bad been in the study might be who batons enemies ware was equally unknown to Sant olne but there could be but one man or at most one small group of men mentho who could be ot at the same time batons enemy and San to have ian known own who eaton was would have pointed this man to Sant olne gabriel warden had had bad an appointment with a young roan man who had come from asia and who warden imd had told his wife he had discovered lately had been greatly wronged eaton baton under conductor Con nerys questioning had bad admitted himself to bo be that young roan man Sant olne had verified this and had bad learned that eaton baton was at least the young roan mab who had gone to wardens house bouse that night dut but gabriel warden bad not been allowed to hel bel so far from that he had not even been allowed to meet and talk with eaton he had been called out plainly to prevent his bis meeting eaton and killed eaton disappeared and concealed himself at once after wardens murder apparently fearing that he would also be attacked dut eaton was not a man whom this personal fear would have restrained from coming forward later to tell why warden had bad been killed ile he had been urged to come forward and promised that others would give him help in wardens place still he had concealed himself this must mean that others than warden could not help eaton baton ea eaton ton evidently did not know or else could not hope to prove what warden had abad diss covered Sant olne held this thought in abey fince ance he be would see later h how a w it checked with the facts eaton baton had remained an n seattle or benr baittle eleven days and in to escape attack during that time he hail had been able to conceal himself lie he had been obliged however to reveal ve a I 1 himself hlina elf when lie he took the train and na as soon ns as possible a desperate attempt had been inneo against him which through mistake had struck down Sant olne instead of eaton baton eaton hal tilt taken the train tit at seattle because Sant olne was on it lie ho had dono done this ut tit great risk to himself the possibilities were that enton had taken the train to inform sun san colne tolne of soni ethIng or to loam learn sonic boino tiling thing from him luit but eaton had had amplo ample opportunity since to inform of anything lie he wished und and he tin had not only not informed min of anything but had refused consistently and y to answer any of San Santol nos questions it was to learn soul something ethIng trum from Sant olne then that enton eaton had taken the train the blind ninn turned upon tits his bed lie ho was finding that events fitted together perfectly he felt certain now that katon haton had gone to gabriel warden to get from warden some information that he needed and that to prevent wardens giving him this warden had been killed then wardens death had caused Sant olne to go to seattle and take charge of many of wardens affairs enton eaton had find thought that the information which had been in wardens possession might now be in San eaton therefore had followed Sant olno otna onto the train the inference was plain that something which would have given san bolno the information warden had had and which eaton baton now required had been brought into San Santol noa house and put in San safe it was waa to get posse possession sElon of this something before it had reached Sant olne that the safe lad been forced Bant Sant olne olno put out his hand unit and pressed a bell A servant came to the door will you find miss bliss Sant olne the blind man directed and ask tier her to come here the servant withdrew Sant olne waited antly the door again opened and lie he heard his daughters step have you listed what was token taken from the safe harriot harriet Sant olne asked not yet father the blind man though an instant harriet Hiir riet something has been brought into the house or r the manner of keeping something in the house bouse has been changed within a very few days since the time I 1 think when the attempt to N run IP eaton baton down with the motor car was made what was wai that thai something lot his daughter reflected the draft of the new ag agreement about the la tron properties and the lists of stockholders in the properties les which came through mr wardens office she replied those were in the safer yes you had not net given roe me any instructions about them so had put them in tile the other safe but when I 1 went to get the correspondence I 1 an saw them there and put them with the correspondence in my own safe Bant Sant olne lay still who besides donald knew that you did that daughterly Daughter lt haasken he ha asked no one thank you harriet recognized this as dismissal and went out the blind man felt the blood beating fiercely in his temples and at ills his fingertips finger tips it amazed as founded him film to realize that wardens murder and all that had followed it had sprung from the latron case lie recollected that ho he had been vaguely conscious ever since lations Lat rons murder of something strained something not wholly open in hla his relations with those men whose interests had bad been most me st closely allied with latrona Lat rons it had been nothing open nothing palpable it was only that he had felt at times in them a knowledge of some general condition governing them which was not wholly known to himself whoever blatchford had seen was someone well known to him whose presence had been so amazing that speech had failed blatchford for the moment and lie he had feared the effect of the announcement on san tolue this could have been only the principal himself somo some circumstance which Sant olne comprehended comprehend pil only imperfectly amyel as ye had bad forced this manto come coine out from behind his agents and to act even at the risk of revealing himself it was probably he who finding Blatch fords presence made inevitable had hilled led blatchford jut but these circumstances cum stances gave Sant olne no clew as to who the man might be rho he blind than man tried vainly to guess tile the only circumstance regarding the tj an of which h Sant olne now felt sure was wa 11 that he was one of the many concerned in the latron case or with the latron properties what time Is it the blind man suddenly asked the nurse it Is nearly noon mr Sant olne will you leave mo me alone for a few moments mo ments he redirected directed he listened till he heard the door cloma behind tile the nurse then be seized the private phone beside hla bed and called his broker how hori Is the market be inquired there them was something approaching to a panic on tile the stock exchange it appeared somo some rising arising from causes nut not yet clear had dropped the bottom out of ft a score of important stocks how Is pacific midlands midland san ban colne tolne asked it led tile tho decline Sant olne folt felt the blood in tits his tem ples pies AI and N smelters shelters Sm elters be h asked down seven points IS S F and DT D right eight points oft off San hand holding the telephone shook in its agitation his head was hot from tho the blood rushing through it ills hla body was chilled an all idea so strange so astounding so in credible as it farst had conio come to him that ills his feelings refuse 11 it frough hl hla reason told him it was waa tho the only possible condition which could account for nil all the facts now was being made all but certain ile iio natu nain stock rafter after stock all wore were down seriously depressed or had find been supported only by a desperate effort of their chief holders the blind man could write as an well ns as any other by following tile the position of the lines with the fingers of ills his left hand ho wrote a short note swiftly now folded sealed scaled and addressed it and handed it to the serva t lie ile heard tho |
