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The BLIND
MAN’S
EYES
Q
By Will iam MacHarg
Edwin Balmer
Copyright by Little, Brown &nd Com pan 7
CHAPTER XXill—Continued.
—l9 ■
“In other words, you Instructed
them not to do so until you found out
whether Overton could be handel over
cor execution and the facts regarding
Latron kept secret, or whether some
©ther course was necessary.”
The blind man did not wait for any
answer to this; he straightened sud
denly, gripping the arms of his chair,
and got up. There was more he wished
to ask; In the bitterness he felt at his
blindness having been used to make
him an unconscious agent in these
things of which Avery spoke so calm
ly, he was resolved that no one who
had shared knowingly in them should
go unpunished. But now he heard the
noise made by approach of Eaton’s
captors. As Santolne stood listening,
the sounds without became coherent
to him,
“They have taken Overton, Avery,”
he commented. “Of course they have
taken no one else. I shall tell those
in charge of him he is not the one
they are to hold prisoner but that I
have another for them here.”
The blind man heard no answer
from Avery. Those having Overton
In charge seemed to be coming into
the house; the door opened and there
were confused sounds.
Then Santolne heard his daughter’s
voice in a half cry, half sob of hope
less appeal to him. Harriet ran to
him; he felt her cold, trembling fingers
clasping him and beseeching him.
“Fatherl Father! They say—they
Bay—they will —”
He put his hands over hers, clasp
ing hers and patting it. “My dear,"
he said, “I thought you would wait
for me; I told you to wait."
He heard others coming into the
house now; and he held hi 3 daughter
beside him as he faced them.
“Who is in charge here?” he de
manded.
The voice of one of those who had
Just come in answered him. “I, sir—
I am the chief of police.”
“I wish to speak to you; I will not
keep you long. May I ask you to have
your prisoner taken to the room he
occupied here in my house and given
attention by a doctor? You can have
tuy w T ord that it is not necessary to
guard him. Wait! Wait!” he direct
ed, as he heard exclamations and
ejaculations to correct him. “I do not
mean that you have mistaken who he
Is. He is Hugh Overton, I know; it is
because he is Hugh Overton that I
Bay what I do.”
Santolne abandoned effort to sepa
rate and comprehend or to try to an
swer the confusion of charge and
questioning around him. He con
cerned himself, at the moment, only
with his daughter; lie drew her to
him. held her and said gently, “There,
dear; there I Everything is right. I
have not been able to explain to you,
and I cannot take time now; but yon,
at least, will take my word that you
have nothing to fear for him —noth-
ing 1”
He heard her gasp with incredulity
and surprise; then she drew back
from him, staring at him, she breathed
deep with relief and clasped him, sob
bing. He still held her, as the hall
was cleared and the footsteps of those
carrying Overton went up the stairs;
then, knowing that she wished to fol
low them, he released her. She drew
away, then clasped his hand and
kissed it; as she did so, she suddenly
stiffened and her hand tightened on
his spasmodically.
Someone else had come Into the hall
and he heard another voice—a wom
an’s, which he recognized as that of
the stenographer, Miss Davis.
“Where is he? Hugh! Hugh!
What have you done to him? Mr.
Santoine! Mr. Santolne! Where is
he?"
The blind man straightened, holding
his daughter to him; there was anxi
ety, horror, love in the voice he heard;
Harriet’s perplexitj was great as his
own.
“Is that you, Miss Davis?” he in
quired.
“Yes; yes,” the girl repeated.
“Where is—Hugh, Mr. Santolne?”
“You do not understand,” the voice
of a young man broke In on them.
“I’m afraid I don’t,” Santolne said
quietly.
“She is Hugh’s sister, Mr. Santoine
—she Is Edith Overton.”
“F'llth Overton? And who are you?"
“You do not know me. My name is
Lawrence Hillward."
Santolne asked nothing more for the
moment. H!s daughter had left his side.
He stood an Instant listening to the
confusion of question and answer In
the hall; then he cpeued the door into
the library and held it for the police
chief to enter.
CHAPTER XXIV
“It's All Right, Hugh”—at Last.
Eaton —he still, with the habit of
five years of concealment, even
thought of himself by that name —
awoke to full consciousness at eight
o’clock the next morning. He was in
the room he had occupied before in
Santoine’s house; the sunlight, re
flected from the lake, was playing on
the ceiling. Ills wounds had been
dressed; his body was comfortable
and without fever.
lie saw and recognized, against the
lighted square of the window, a man
standing looking out at the lake.
“Lawrence,” he said.
The man turned and came toward
the bed. “Yes, Hugh.”
Eaton raised himself excitedly upon
his pillows. “Lawrence, that was he—
last night—in the study. It was La
tron ! I saw him! You’ll believe me,
Lawrence—you at least will. They
got away on a boat —they must be fol
lowed—" With the first return of
consciousness he had taken up again
that battle against circumstances
which had been his only thought for
five yenrs.
But suddenly he was aware that his
sister was also in the room, sitting
upon the opposite side of the bed. Her
hand came forward and clasped his;
she bent over him, holding him and
fondling him.
“It is all right, Hugh,” she whis
pered—“oh, Hugh ! it is all right now.
Mr. Santoine knows; he —he was not
what we thought him. He believed
nil the while that you were Justly
sentenced. Now he knows other
wise—”
“He—Santolne —believed that?” Ea
ton asked incredulously.
“Yes; he says his blindness was
used by them to make him think so.
So now he Is very angry; he says no
one who had anything to do with i*
shall escape. He figured it all out —
most wonderfully—that it must have
been Latron in the study. He has
been working all night—they have al
ready made several arrests and every
port on the lake is being watched for
the boat they got away on.”
“Is that true, Edith? Lawrence, is
it true?”
“Yes; quite true, Hugh I” Hillward
choked and turned away.
Eaton sank back against his pil
lows; Ills eyes—dry, bright and filled
still with questioning for a time, as
he tried to appreciate what he just
had heard and all that it meant to
him —dampened suddenly as he real
ized that it was over now, that long
Struggle to clear his name from the
charge of murder —the fight which had
seemed so hopeless. He could not
realize it to the full as yet; conceal
ment, fear, the sense of monstrous
injustice done him had marked so
deeply all his thoughts and feelings
that he could not sense the fact that
they were gone for good. So what
came to him most strongly now was
only realization that he had been set
right with Santoine —Santoine, whom
he himself had misjudged and mis
trusted. And Harriet? He had not
needed to be set right with her; she
had believed and trusted him from the
first, in spite of all that had seemed
against him. Gratitude warmed him
as he thought of her —and that other
feeling, deeper, stronger far than
gratitude, or than anything else he
ever had felt toward anyone but her,
surged up in him and set his pulses
wildly heating, as his thought strained
toward the future.
“Where is—Mlsu Santoine?” he
asked.
His sister answered. “She lias been
helping her father. They left word
they were to be sent for as soon as
you woke up, and I’ve Just sent for
them.”
Eaton lay silent till he heard them
coming. The blind man was unfa
miliar with this room; his daughter
led him In. Her eyes were very
bright, her cheeks, which had been
pale, flushed as she met Eaton’s look,
but she dkl not lock away. He /ept
his gaze upon her.
Santoine, under her guidance, took
the chair Hillward set beside the bed
for him. The blind man was very
quiet; he felt for and found Eaton's
hand and pressed it. Eaton choked,
as he returned the pressure. Then
Santolne released him.
“Who else is here?” the blind man
asked his daughter.
“Miss Overton and Mr. Hillward,”
she answered.
“I understand, I think, everything
now, except some few particulars re
garding yourself,” he said. “Will you
tell me those?”
“You mean—” Eaton spoke to San
tolne, but he looked at Harriet. “Oh,
I understand, I think. When l—
escaped, Mr. Santoine, of course my
picture had appeared in all the news
papers and I was not safe from rec
ognition anywhere in this country. I
got into Canada and, from Vancouver,
went to China. We had very Little
HENRY COUNTY WEEKLY, McDONOUGH, GEORGIA
money left. Air. Santoine. What had
not been —lost through Latron had
been spent in my defense. I got u
position in a mercantile house over
there. If was a good country for me;
people over there don't ask questions
for fear someone will ask questions
about them. We had an near rela
tives for Edith to go to and she had
to take up stenography to support her
self and —and change her name, Mr.
Santolne, because of me.”
“Go on,” said Santolne. “You
thought I knew who Latron’s mur
derer was and morally, though not
technically, perjured myself at your
trial to convict you In his place.
What next?”
“That was it," Eaton assented. "We
thought you knew that some of those
nround you who served as your eyes
must know it, too.”
Harriet gasped. Eaton, looking at
her, knew that she understood now
what had come between them when
she had told him that she herself had
served as her father’s eyes all through
the Latron trial. He felt himself
flushing as he looked at her; he could
not understand now how he could
have believed that she had aided in
concealing an Injustice against him,
no matter what influence had been ex
erted upon her. She was ull good;
all true.
“At rirst,” Eaton went on, “Edith
did not find out anything. Then, this
year, she learned that there was to
be a reorganization of some of the
Latron properties. We hoped that,
during that, something would come
out which might Help us. I had been
away almost five years; my face was
forgotten, and we thought I could
take the chance of coming back to be
near at hand so I could act if anything
did come out. Lawrence met me at
Vancouver. We were about to start
east when I received a message from
Mr. Warden. I did not know Warden
and I don’t know now how he knew
who I was or where lie could reach
me. His message merely said he knew
I needed help and he was prepared to
give It and made an appointment for
me to see him at his house. You know
what happened when I tried to keep
the appointment.
“Then you came to Seattle and took
charge of Warden’s affairs. I felt cer
tain that if there was any evidence
among Warden’s effects as to who had
killed Latron, you would take It lack
with you with the other matters re
lating to the Latron reorganization.
You could not recognize ine from your
having been at my trial because you
were blind; I decided to take the train
with you and try to get possession of
the draft of the reorganization agree
ment and the other documents with it
which Warden had been working on.
I had suspected that I was being
watched by agents of the men protect
ing Latron’s murderer while I was in
Seattle. I had changed my lodgings
there because of that, but Lawrence
had remained at the old lodgings to
And out for me. He found there was
a man following me who disappeared
after I had taken the train, and Law
rence, after questioning the gatenmn
at Seattle decided the man had taken
the same train I did. lie wired me In
the cipher we bad sometimes used in
communicating with each other, but
not knowing what name I was using
on the train, he addressed it to him
self, confident that if a telegram
reached the train addressed to ‘Law
rence Hillward’ I would understand
and claim it.
“Of course, I could not follow his
instructions and leave the train; we
were snowed in. Besides, I could not
imagine how anybody could have fol
lowed me onto the train, as I had
taken pains to prevent that very thing
by being the last passenger to get
aboard It."
“The man whom the gateman saw
did not follow you; he merely watched
you get on the train and notified two
others, who took the train at Spo
kane. They had planned to get rid
of you after you left Seattle so as to
run less risk of your death being con
nected with that of Warden. It was
my presence which made it necessary
for them to make the desperate at
tempt to kill you on the train.”
“Then I understand. The other tel
egram was sent me, of course, by
Edith from Chicago, when she learned
here that you v ere using the name of
Dome on your way home. I learned
from her when I got here that the doc
uments relating to the Latron prop
erties, which I had decided you did
not have with you, were being sent
you through Warden’s office. Through
Edith I learned that they had reached
you and had been put in the safe. I
managed to communicate with Hill
ward at the country club, and that
night he brought me the means of
forcing the safe.”
Eaton felt himself flushing again, ns
he looked at Harriet. Did she resent
his having used her in that way? He
saw only sympathy in her face.
“When I reached the study,” Eaton
continued, “I found others already
there. The light of an electric torch
flashed on toe face of one of them
and I recognized the man as Latron—
the man for whose murder I had been
convicted nnd sentenced 1 Edith tells
me that you know the rest.”
There was silence in the room for
several minutes. Santolne again felt
for Eaton’s hand and pressed it.
“We’ve tired you out,” he said. ’ You
must rest.”
“You must sleep, nugh, If you can.”
Edith urged.
Eaton obediently closed h!? eves,
but opened them at once to look for
Harriet. She had moved out of his
line of vision.
Eaton, turning anxiously on his pil
low and looking nbout the room, saw
no one but his sister, ne had known
when Harriet moved away from be
side the bed; but be had not suspected
thnt she was leaving the room. Now
suddenly n groat fear filled him.
Wby did Miss Santolne go away?
Why did she go, Edith?” he ques
tioned.
“You must sleep, Hugh,” his sister
answered only.
Harriet, when she slipped out of the
room, had gone downstairs. She could
not Imre forced herself to leave be
fore she had heard Hugh's story, and
she could not define even to herself
what the feeling had been Hint had
made her leave ns soon ns he had
finished; but she sensed the reason
vaguely. Hugh had told her two days
before, “I will come back to you ns
you have never known me yet"—and
it had proved true. She bad known
him ns n man In fear, constrained,
carefully guarding himself against
others and against betrayal by him
self; a man to whom all the world
seemed opposed; so that her sympa
thy—and afterward something more
than her sympathy—had gone out to
him.
Now the world was no longer
against him; he had friends, a place
In life was ready to receive him; ha
would be sought after, and his name
would be among those of the people
of bis own sort. She bad no shame
that she had let him —and others—
know all that she felt toward him;
she gloried still In It; only now—now,
If he wished her, he must make that
plain; she could not, of herself, return
to him.
So unrest possessed her nnd the
suspense of something hoped for hut
unfulfilled. She went from room tn
room, trying to absorb herself In her
daily duties; but the house —her fa
ther's house —spoke to her now only
of Hugh and she could think of noth
ing but him.
Her heart halted at each recur
rence of that thought; and again and
again she repeated his words to her
at parting from her the night before.
“I will come back to you as you haev
never known me yet!’* To her he
would come back, be suld; to her, not
to anyone else. But his danger was
not over then; in his great extremily
and in his need of her, he might have
felt what he did not feel now. If bo
wanted her, why did he not send for
her?
She stood trembling ns she saw
Edith Overton In the hall.
“Hugh has been asking for you con
tinually, Ailss Santoine. If you can
find time, please go in and see him."
Harriet did not know what answer
she made. She went upstairs: she
ran, ns soon as she was out of sight
of Hugh's sister; then, at Hugh’s door,
she had to halt to catch her breath
and compose herself before she opened
the door nnd looked in upon him. lie
was alone and seemed asleep; at least
his eyes were closed.
Ills face was peaceful now but
worn, and his paleness was more evi
dent than when he had been talking
to her father. As she stood watch*
ing him, she felt her blood coursing
through her as never before and
warming her face and her fingertips;
and fear —fear of him or of herself,
fear of anything at all in the world
lied from her; and love —love which
she knew that she need no longer try
to deny—possessed her.
“Harriet!” She heard Iter narna
from his bps and site saw, as ha
opened his eyes and turned to her,
there was no surprise in his look; if
lie had been sleeping, he had been
dreaming she was there; if awake, ho
had been thinking of her.
“What is it, Hugh?” She was be
side him and lie was looking up ints
her eyes.
“You meant it, then? All you said
and —and all you did when we—you
and I —were alone against then alii
It’s so, Harriet! You mean it!”
“And you did too! Dear, It was
only to me that you could come back—
ouly to me?”
“Only to you!” He closed his eyes
In bis exultation. “Oh, my dear, I
never dreamed —Harriet in all the days
and nights I’ve had to plan and won
der what might be for me if every
thing could come all right. I’ve nevei
dreamed I could win a reward Uka
this.”
“Like this?”
He opened his eyes again and drew
her down toward him. “Like you!"
She bent until her cheek touched
his and his arms were about her Hs
felt her tears upon his face. “Noto
tbata; not that —you mustn’t cry,
dear,” he begged. “Oh, Harriot,
aren’t you happy now?”
“That’s why. Happy! I dldn’i
know before there could be anything
like this.”
“Nor I. . . . No, It’s ai right,
Harriet; everything is all right now?”
“All right? Oh. It’s all right now.
If I can make It so for you,” she
answered.
[TnE ENDJ
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