ightly as she saw that Eaton observed
the man; Eaton understood then that the man was a guard, one of
several, probably, who had been put about the house to keep watch of
him.

Had Harriet Santoine understood his interest in the grounds as
preparatory to a plan to escape, and had she therefore taken him out to
show him the guards who would prevent him? He did not speak of the
men, and neither did she; with her, he went on, silently, to the
gardeners' cottages, where she gave directions concerning the spring
work being done on the grounds. Then they went back to the house,
exchanging--for the first time between them--ordinary inanities.

She left him in the hall, saying she was going to visit her father; but
part way up the stairs, she paused.

"You'll find books in the library of every conceivable sort, Mr.
Eaton," she called down to him.

"Thank you," he answered; and he went into the library, but he did not
look for a book. Left alone, he stood listening.

As her footsteps on the stairs died away, no other sound came to him.
The lower part of the house seemed deserted. He went out again into
the hall and looked about quickly and waited and listened; then he
stepped swiftly and silently to a closet where, earlier, he had noticed
a telephone. He shut himself in and took up the receiver of the
instrument. As he placed it to his ear, he heard the almost
imperceptible sound of another receiver on the line being lifted; then
the girl at the suburban central said, "Number, please."

Eaton held the receiver to his ear without making reply. The other
person on the line--evidently it was an extension in the house--also
remained silent. The girl at central repeated the request; neither
Eaton nor the other person replied. Eaton hung up the receiver and
stepped from the closet. He encountered Donald Avery in the hall.

"You have been telephoning?" Avery asked.

"No."

"Oh; you could not get your number?"

"I did not ask for it."

Eaton gazed coolly at Avery, knowing now that Avery had been at the
other telephone on the line or had had report from the person who had
been prepared to overhear.

"So you have had yourself appointed my--warden?"

Avery took a case from his pocket and lighted a cigar without offering
Eaton one. Eaton glanced past him; Harriet Santoine was descending the
stair. Avery turned and saw her, and again taking out his cigar-case,
now offered it to Eaton, who ignored it.

"I found