started to
distribute the files. From one blind wretch to the next I went,
whispering words of cheer and instruction for the next night. They were
to cut through a link in the chain, but in such a way that the Tiger Cat
would not suspect that they had gained their liberty. Were they pleased
to have a hope of freedom? I am not sure, but they were delighted at
another prospect.

The next night I doubled the tips to the old servants. With tears of
gratitude in their eyes, they thanked me as they called me their dear
master. I put them to sleep as though they were babies. In fact, I
wondered at the time if they would ever recover from the dose of chloral
I gave them. I did not even bother to tie them, but just tossed them on
their beds.

At half past ten, automobiles began to arrive with darkened lights. We
had a lengthy conference, and soon after eleven I went through the door.
I lost no time in making sure that each of the blind mice was a free
man, but I insisted that they act as though bound till the proper time.
They were trembling, but it was not from fear, not that time.

Back in my hiding-place I waited, and soon I heard the singing voice.
Ten minutes later the Donna Marchesi had her lantern hung on the nail.
Ah! She was more beautiful that night than I had ever seen her. Dressed
in filmy white, her beautiful body, lovely hair, long lithe limbs would
have bound any man to her through eternity. She seemed to sense that
beauty, for, after giving out the first supply of rolls, she varied her
program. She told her audience how she had dressed that evening for
their special pleasure. She described her jewels and her costume. She
almost became grandiose as she told of her beauty, and, driving in the
dagger, she twisted it as she reminded them that never would they be
able to see her, never touch her or kiss her hand. All they could do was
to hear her sing, applaud and at last die.

Of all the terrible things in her life that little talk to those blind
men was the climax.

And then she sang. I watched her closely, and I saw what I suspected.
She sang with her eyes closed. Was she in fancy seeming that she was in
an opera-house before thousands of spellbound admirers? Who knows? But
ever as she sang that night her eyes were closed, and even as she came
to a close, waiting for the usual applause, her eyes were closed.

* * * * *

She waited in the silence for the clap of hands. It did