others of the firm; at twenty-eight, his was the leading name. He
had begun to specialize long before that time, in corporation law; he
married shortly after this. At thirty, the firm name represented to
those who knew its particulars only one personality, the personality of
Santoine; and at thirty-five--though his indifference to money was
proverbial--he was many times a millionaire. But except among the
small and powerful group of men who had learned to consult him,
Santoine himself at that time was utterly unknown.

There are many such men in all countries,--more, perhaps, in America
than anywhere else,--and in their anonymity they are like minds without
physical personality; they advise only, and so they remain out of
public view, behind the scenes. Now and then one receives publicity
and reward by being sent to the Senate by the powers that move behind
the screen, or being called to the President's cabinet. More often,
the public knows little of them until they die and men are astonished
by the size of the fortunes or of the seemingly baseless reputations
which they leave. So Santoine--consulted continually by men concerned
in great projects, immersed day and night in vast affairs, capable of
living completely as he wished--had been, at the age of forty-six,
great but not famous, powerful but not publicly known. At that time an
event had occurred which had forced the blind man out unwillingly from
his obscurity.

This event had been the murder of the great Western financier Matthew
Latron. There had been nothing in this affair which had in any way
shadowed dishonor upon Santoine. So much as in his role of a mind
without personality Santoine ever fought, he had fought against Latron;
but his fight had been not against the man but against methods. There
had come then a time of uncertainty and unrest; public consciousness
was in the process of awakening to the knowledge that strange things,
approaching close to the likeness of what men call crime, had been
being done under the unassuming name of business. Government
investigation threatened many men, Latron among others; no precedent
had yet been set for what this might mean; no one could foresee the
end. Scandal--financial scandal--breathed more strongly against Latron
than perhaps against any of the other Western men. He had been among
their biggest; he had his enemies, of whom impersonally Santoine might
have been counted one, and he had his friends,