The Holly chieftain., 1923-01-18

"He Was Operated On Recently"
one most likely to be an efficient aid.
he handed 1t to Eaton. "Will you
help me, please? Strike a light and
hold 1t as | direct-then draw 1t away
slowly"
He lifted the partly closed eyelid
from one OF the eyes of the uncon.
scious man and nodded to Eatoni
Hold the light In front of the pupil"
Eaton obeyed, drawing the light
slowly away as Sinclair had directed,
and the surgeon dropped the eyelit
and exposed the other pupil.
whats that for? Avery now
asked
81 was trying 10 determine the Sc.
riousness of the injury to the brain.
/ was looking to see whether light
could cause the pupil to contract.
There WAS no reaction"
"IIIs optic nerve is destroyed"
"Ah. He was bind?"
yes, he was blind" Avery admit.
ted.
Blind" Sinclair calculated. Blind,
and operated upon within two years
by Kuno Garrt!' Kuno CART operat.
ed only upon the all-rich and powerful
or upon the completely powerless and
poor; the unconscious man In the
berth could belong only to the first
class Of CARTS clientele. The sur
geon's gaze again searched the fea-
lures in the berth; then it shifted TO
the men gathered about him in the
aisle.
''Who did you say this wasp he de.
manded Of Avery.
II said his name was Nathan
Dorne," Avery evaded.
mo, no." Sinclair jerked out i'm
patiently. isn't this" He hesI-
tated. and finished in voice suddenly
lowered: Isn't this Basil SantoIneT"
Avery, If he still wished to do so,
found 1t impossible to deny.
Basil Santolne!' Connery breathed.
To the conductor alone. among the
four men standing by the berth, the
name seemed to have come with the
sharp shock OF a surprise; with 1t had
'oibC an uuucu StuSt vi IeSpOuSlDlIlIN
and. horror over what had happened
to the passenger who had been con-
fided to his care, which made him
whiten as he once more repeated the
name to himself and stared down at
the man in the berth.
Conductor Connery knew Basil San
tome only in the way that Santoine
known In ~ uth
people-that is, by name but not by
sight.
Basil SantOine at twenty-five had
been graduated from Harvard, though
blind. His connections-the family
was of well-to-do southern stock-his
possession Of enough money for his
own support, made 1t possible for him
TO live idly II he wished; but Santoine
had not chosen to make his blindness
an excuse for doing this He had
at once settled himself to his chosen
profession, which was law. He had
not found il easy to get q start in
this. and he had succeeded only after
great effort In getting place with
small and unImportant firm. Within
a short time, well within two years,
men had begun to recognize that In
this struggling law firm there was a
powerful, clear, compelling mind.
Santolne, a youth living In darkness,
unable TO see the men with whom he
talked or the documents and books
which must be read to him. was be-
ginning TO put the stamp of his per-
sonality on the firms affairs. A year
later his name appeared with others
of the firm; at twenty-elght his was
the leading name. He had begun to
specialize long before that time, in
corporation law; he married shortly
after this. At thirty the firm name
represented to those who knew its
particulars only one personality, the
OF Santoine; and a thirty
hve-though his Indifference to money
was proverbial-he was many times a