The Glenwood post., 1923-01-18


what men call crime, had been being
done under the unassuming name Of
business. Scandal-financial scandal
-brehthed more strongly against La
tron than perhaps against any of the
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
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
irons conviction, carried instead the
pews 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 complicity-in the crime;
the murder had been because of a
purely private matter; but in the ea-
ger questioning into Latron's circum-
stances and surroundings previous to
the crime, Santoine was summoned
into court as 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.
1t had been reported for some days
that Santoine had come to Seattle di-
rectly after Warden's death; but
when this was admitted, his associ-
ates had always been careful to add
that Santolne, having been a 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 deliv-
cred within eleven days Of Warden's
death, must be of the gravest signifi-
cance.
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 occupiedT
ats occupied by his daughter"
"We1l take him In there, then"
The four men lifted the inert figure
of Basil Santoine. carried 1t into the
drawing room and laid 1t on its back
upon the bed.
II have my instruments" Sinclair
said. '.T1l get them; but before / de-
eide to do anything, 1 ought to see
his daughter. Since she Is here, her
consent is necessary before any opera
tlon on him"
Miss Santofne is in the observation
car" Avery said. ''I'll get her."
The tone was In some way false
Eaton could not tell exactly how.
Avery started down the aisle.
zone moment, please. Mr. Averyl"
said the conductor. I'll ask you not
to tell Miss Santoine before any
other passenger that there has been
an attack upon her father. Wait I'M
til you get her inside the door Of this
car"
"You yourself said nothing. then.
that can have made her suspect itY'
Eaton asked.
Connery shook his head the con-
ductor, in doubt and anxiety over ex-
actly what action the situation called
for-unable, too, to communicate any
hint of it to his superiors TO the west
because of the wires being down
clearly had resolved to keep the at
tack upon Santoine secret for some
time. II said nothing definite even
to the trainmen," he replied; "and !
want you gentlemen to promise me
before you leave this car that you will
say nothing until I give you leave"
His eyes shifted from the face of
enc to another. until he had assured
himself that all agreed. As Avery
left the car, Eaton found seat in
one Of ,he end sections near the draw
inp room He did not know whether