The Holly chieftain., 1923-01-25
CHAPTER vl-continu.d.

Consulted continually by men con-
cerned in great projects. Immersed
day and night in vast affairs, capable
of living completely as he wished-he
had been, at the age Of forty-six, great
but not famous, powerful but not pub
had occurred which had forced the
blind man out unwillingly from his
obscurity.
This event had been the murder of
the great western financier. Matthew
Latron There had been nothing in
Swallowed dishonor upon Santoine. So
much as in his role Of mind without
personality Santoine ever fought, he
had fought against Latron; but his
fight had been not against the man
but against methods. There had come
then q time of uncertainty and un-
rest; public consciousness was in
the process of awakening to the
knowledge that strange things. ap-
preaching close to the likeness of
what men call crime, had been being
done under the urassuming name of
business. Scanda-financial scandal
--brehthed more strongly against La
other western men. He had been
among their biggest; he had his enc
mics, of whom impersonally Santoine
might have been counted one, and he
had his friends. both In high places;
he was world figure. Then. all Of
a sudden. the man had been struck
dOwn-killed, because Of some private
quarrel, men whispered, by an obscure
and till then unheard-of man.
The trembling wires and cables,
which should have carried to the walt
ing world the expected news OF La
tron's conviction, carried instead the
news of Latron's death; and disorder
followed. The first public concern
had been, Of course, for the stocks and
bonds of the great Latron properties;
and Latron's bigness had seemed only
further evidenced by the stanchness
with which the Latron banks, the La
tron railroads and mines and public
utilities stood firm even against the
shock Of their builders death. As
sured Of this, public interest had shift
ed to the trial, conviction and SEN
tence Of Latron's murderer; and 1t
was during this trial that Santoine's
name had become more publicly
known. Not that the blind man was
suspected Of any knowledge-much
less OF any compliclty-in the crime;
the murder had been because Of a
purely private matter; but in the ca
ger questioning into Latron's clrcum-
stances and surroundings previous to
the crime, Santoine was summoned
into court as a witness.
The blind man, led into the court,
sitting sightless in the witness chair,
revealing himself by his spoken, and
even more by his withheld, replies as
one of the unknown guiders of the
destiny of the Continent and as coun.
selor to the most powerful-himself
till then hardly heard Of but plainly
one Of the nations 'uncrowned rulers"
had caught the public sense. The
fate of the murderer. the crime, even
Latron himself. lost temporarily their
interest in the public curiosity over
the personality of Santoine.
II had been reported for some days
that Santoine had come to Seattle d.
recuy after Warden's death; but
when this was admitted, his associ-
ates had always been careful to add
that Santoine, having been close
personal friend of Gabriel Warden,
had come purely in personal capac-
ity, and the impression was given that
Santoine had returned quietly some
days before. The mere prolonging of
his stay in the West was more than
suggestive that affairs among the
powerful were truly In such state as
Warden had proclaimed; this attack
upon Santoine. so similar to that
which had slain Warden. and dellv-
cred within eleven days Of Warden's
death, must be of the gravest signif-
canoe
Connery stood overwhelmed for the
moment with this fuller recognition
of the seriousness of the disaster
which had come upon this man in
trusted to his charge; then he turned
TO the surgeon.
"Can you do anything for him here,
Doctor?' he asked.
The surgeon glanced down the car.
That stateroom-is IT occupiedy'