until he
heard the servant go out and close the door; he had instructed the man
and another with him to remain in the hall. The blind man felt no
physical weakness; he was wholly absorbed in the purpose for which he
had dressed and come downstairs; now, as he heard Avery start forward
to help him, he motioned him back. It was the rule in Santoine's house
that the furniture in the rooms he frequented should be kept always in
the same positions; the blind man could move about freely, therefore,
in these rooms.

He walked slowly now to a large chair beside the table in the center of
the room and sat down, resting his arm on the table; when he felt the
familiar smoothness of the table under his finger-tips he knew he was
facing the part of the room where the sound he had just heard had told
him Avery must be.

"When did you learn that Eaton was Hugh Overton, Avery?" he asked.

"To-day."

"How did you discover it?"

He heard Avery, who had been standing, come forward and seat himself on
the arm of the chair across the table from him; the blind man turned to
face this place directly.

"It was plain from the first there was something wrong with the man,"
Avery replied; "but I had, of course, no way of placing him until he
gave himself away at polo the other day."

"At polo? Then you knew about it the other day?"

"Oh, no," Avery denied. "I saw that he was pretending not to know a
game which he did know; when he put over one particular stroke I was
sure he knew the game very well. The number of men in this country
who've played polo at all isn't very large and those who can play great
polo are very few. So I sent for the polo annuals for a few years
back; the ones I wanted came to the club to-day. His picture is in the
group of the Spring Meadows Club; he played 'back' for them five years
ago. His name was under the picture, of course."

"You didn't tell me, however, that he could play polo when you first
found it out."

"No; I wanted to be sure of him before I spoke; besides, Harriet had
seen it as well as I; I supposed she had told you."

"I understand. I am glad to know how it was. One less certain of your
fidelity than I am might have put another construction on your silence;
one less certain, Avery, might have thought that, already knowing
Eaton's identity, you preferred instead of telling it to me to have me
discover it for myself and so, for that reason, you trapped him into a
polo game in Harri