knew that only one--and the
first one so to come forward--could be saved.

So Santoine heard Avery now get up; he stood an instant and tried to
speak, but his breath caught nervously; he made another effort.

"I don't think you have much against me, Mr. Santoine," he managed; it
was--as the blind man had expected--only of himself that Avery was
thinking.

"No?" Santoine asked quietly.

"I didn't have anything to do with convicting Overton, or know anything
about it until that part was all over; I never saw him till I saw him
on the train. I didn't know Warden was going to be killed."

"But you were accessory to the robbery of my house last night and,
therefore, accessory to the murder of Wallace Blatchford. Last night,
too, knowing Overton was innocent of everything charged against him,
you gave orders to fire upon him at sight and he was fired upon. And
what were you telling Harriet when I came in? You have told the police
that Overton is the murderer of Latron. Isn't that so the police will
refuse to believe anything he may say and return him to the death cell
for the sentence to be executed upon him? The law will call these
things attempted murder, Avery."

The blind man heard Avery pacing the floor, and then heard him stop in
front of him.

"What is it you want of me, Mr. Santoine?"

"The little information I still require."

"You mean you want me to sell the crowd out?"

"Not that; because I offer you nothing. A number of men are going to
the gallows or the penitentiary for this, Avery, and you--I
suspect--among them; though I also suspect--from what I have learned
about your character in the last few days--that you'll take any means
open to you to avoid sharing their fate."

"I suppose you mean by that that I'll turn State's evidence if I get a
chance, and that I might as well begin now."

"That, I should say, is entirely up to you. The charge of what I
know--with the simultaneous arrest of a certain number of men in
different places whom I know must be implicated--will be made
to-morrow. You, perhaps, are a better judge than I of the cohesion of
your group in the contingencies which it will face to-morrow morning.
I offer you nothing now, Avery--no recommendation of clemency--nothing.
If you prefer to have me learn the full facts from the first of another
who breaks, very well."

Santoine waited. He heard Avery take a few more steps up and down;
then he halted; now he walked again; the