"Why, Eaton. It is plain enough what happened here, isn't it?" Avery answered. "He came here to this room for what he was after—for what he has been after from the first—whatever that may have been! He came prepared to force the safe and get it! But he was surprised—"
"By whom?" the blind man asked.
"By whomever it is that has been following him. I don't attempt to explain who they were, Mr. Santoine; for I don't know. But—whoever they were—in doing this, he laid himself open to attack by them. They were watching—saw him enter here. They attacked him here. Wallace switched on the light and recognized him; so he shot Wallace and ran with whatever he could grab up of the contents of the safe, hoping that by luck he'd get what he was after."
"It isn't so—it isn't so!" Harriet denied.
Her father checked her; he stood an instant thoughtful. "Who is directing the pursuit, Donald?" he asked.
Avery went out at once. The window to the south, which stood open, was closed. The blind man turned to his daughter.
"Now, Harriet," he commanded. He put a hand out and touched Harriet's clothing; he found she had on a heavy robe. She understood that her father would not move till she had seen the room for him. She gazed about again, therefore, and told him what she saw.
"There was some sort of a struggle near my safe," she said. "Chairs—everything there is knocked about."
"Yes."
