Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-17
THE WORLD FOR SALE

and's deviish design, shot into his mind
and once more he was shaken. "Tht
bridge Blind Mother - he called il
those can feel to whom life's purpose.
are even more than life itself. Then
with a moan, he became unconscious
and his head rolled over against Rock
wells cheek. The damp of his brow
was as the damp of death ms Rockwell.
! lips touched it.
cold boy, old boy :" Rockwell salt
tcnderly. IL wish it had been me in
stead. Life means so much to YOU
and so little to me. I've seen too much
rnd you've only just begun to see"
Laying him gently down. Rockwell
summoned the nurse and Jim Beadle ant
spoke to them in low tones. "H,
knows now. and it has hit him hard
but not SO hard that he won't stiffer
to it. It might have been worse"
lie gave instructions as to the care
that should bc taken, and replaced the
bandages on the eyes. 1t was, how
ever, long before Ingolby was restored
to consciousness. and when il came
Rockwell put to his lips n cooling drink
containing powerful opiate. Ingolby
drank it without protest and in silence
| lie was like one whose sense of If,
wns automatic and of an inner rather
than an outer understanding. But
when he lay back on the pillow again
he said slowly:
Il want the chief constable to come
here tonight Mt S o'clock. 1t will be
Jp tl thn,, 10 II
portant. Will you see to 1t, Rock
WE'LL"
He thrust out a hand as though to
find RoCkwcll's and there was a graft
tude and an appeal inSthe pressure of
his fingers which went to ROCKWELL $
heart.
AN right, chief I'll have him here. -
Rockwell answered briskly, but with
tears standing in his eyes.
lngolby had, as it were. been stricken
out of the active, sentient, compan-
ionable world into a world where he
was alone, detached. solitary. His being
seemed suspended in an atmosphere of
misery AMI helplcssness.
Blind, | am blind" That wos
the phrase which kept beating with
tn" pulses in Ingolby's veins, that
throbbed and throbbed and throbbcd like
engines III crcaking ship which the
storm was shaking and pounding in the
vast seas between the worlds. Here
was tn" one incomDrphensible, stunpfv :
ing fact nothing else mattered. Every
plan he had ever had. cvery dasign
which he had made his own bv an
originality that even his foes acknowI-
edged. were passing before his brain in
swift procession. shining. magnifed and
Magnllcl"nt. and in that sudden clear.
seeing of his soul he bchcld their fuII
'aIu"' thelr exact concrete force and
uslmntc effect. Yet he knew himself
dcta"hed from them, inactive. incapabIe
because nc could not see with the eves
OF the body. The great essential thin
TO him was that one thing he had iost
\ man might be a cripple and Ell
u'r'rt the great concerns of life and
tho business of life.
II" might be shorn Of limb and soar.
rcd of body. but with eyesight stiIl ii -.
rect the courses of great schemes in
whatever sphere Of life his purnosos
were at work. He might be deaf to
every sound and forever dumb. but 500.
ing enabled him still to carry forward
every enterprise. In darkness. how
ever those things were naught. becarso
Judgment must depend on the ewes and
senses of others. The report might bo
true or false, the deputy might deceive
and his blind chief might never know
the truth unless some other spectator
of his schemes should report it; and
truth could not surely be checked. save
by some one, perhaps, whose life was