Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team THE CRIMSON BLIND By FRED. M. WHITE 1905 CONTENTS CHAPTER I. "WHO SPEAKS?" II. THE CRIMSON BLIND III. THE VOICE IN THE DARKNESS IV. IN EXTREMIS V. "RECEIVED WITH THANKS" VI. A POLICY OF SILENCE VII. No. 218, BRUNSWICK SQUARE VIII. HATHERLY BELL IX. THE BROKEN FIGURE X. THE HOUSE OF THE SILENT SORROW XI. AFTER REMBRANDT XII. "THE CRIMSON BLIND" XIII. "GOOD DOG!" XIV. BEHIND THE BLIND XV. A MEDICAL OPINION XVI. MARGARET SEES A GHOST XVII. THE PACE SLACKENS XVIII. A COMMON ENEMY XIX. ROLLO SHOWS HIS TEETH XX. FRANK LITTIMER XXI. A FIND XXII. "THE LIGHT THAT FAILED" XXIII. INDISCRETION XXIV. ENID LEARNS SOMETHING XXV. LITTIMER CASTLE XXIV. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST XXVII. SLIGHTLY FARCICAL XXVIII. A SQUIRE OF DAMES XXIX. THE MAN WITH THE THUMB AGAIN XXX. GONE! XXXI. BELL ARRIVES XXXII. HOW THE SCHEME WORKED OUT XXXIII. THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE XXXIV. THE PUZZLING OF HENSON XXXV. CHRIS HAS AN IDEA XXXVL. A BRILLIANT IDEA XXXVII. ANOTHER TELEPHONIC MESSAGE XXXVIII. A LITTLE FICTION XXXIX. THE FASCINATION OF JAMES MERRITT XL. A USEFUL DISCOVERY XLI. A DELICATE ERRAND XLII. PRINCE RUPERT'S RING XLIII. NEARING THE TRUTH XLIV. ENID SPEAKS XLV. ON THE TRAIL XLVI. LITTIMER'S EYES ARE OPENED XLVII. THE TRACK BROADENS XLVIII. WHERE IS RAWLINS? XLIX. A CHEVALIER OF FORTUNE L. RAWLINS IS CANDID LI. HERITAGE IS WILLING LII. PUTTING THE LIGHT OUT LIII. UNSEALED LIPS LIV. WHERE IS THE RING? LV. KICKED OUT LVI. WHITE FANGS LVII. HIDE AND SEEK THE CRIMSON BLIND. CHAPTER I "WHO SPEAKS?" David Steel dropped his eyes from the mirror and shuddered as a man who sees his own soul bared for the first time. And yet the mirror was in itself a thing of artistic beauty--engraved Florentine glass in a frame of deep old Flemish oak. The novelist had purchased it in Bruges, and now it stood as a joy and a thing of beauty against the full red wall over the fireplace. And Steel had glanced at himself therein and seen murder in his eyes. He dropped into a chair with a groan for his own helplessness. Men have done that kind of thing before when the cartridges are all gone and the bayonets are twisted and broken and the brown waves of the foe come snarling over the breastworks. And then they die doggedly with the stones in their hands, and cursing the tardy supports that brought this black shame upon them.