XXVI. THE LITTLE SCHOOL-TEACHER 331 XXVII. THE SWEDE'S TELEGRAM 342 XXVIII. "A RESEMBLANCE SOMEWHERE" 354 XXIX. THE ARREST 365 XXX. THE ARGUMENT 376 XXXI. ROBERT KATER'S SUCCESS 387 XXXII. THE PRISONER 408 XXXIII. HESTER CRAIGMILE RECEIVES HER LETTER 422 XXXIV. JEAN CRAIGMILE'S RETURN 433 XXXV. THE TRIAL 445 XXXVI. NELS NELSON'S TESTIMONY 453 XXXVII. THE STRANGER'S ARRIVAL 463 XXXVIII. BETTY BALLARD'S TESTIMONY 475 XXXIX. RECONCILIATION 487 XL. THE SAME BOY 499 THE EYE OF DREAD BOOK ONE CHAPTER I BETTY Two whip-poor-wills were uttering their insistent note, hidden somewhere among the thick foliage of the maple and basswood trees that towered above the spring down behind the house where the Ballards lived. The sky in the west still glowed with amber light, and the crescent moon floated like a golden boat above the horizon's edge. The day had been unusually warm, and the family were all gathered on the front porch in the dusk. The lamps within were unlighted, and the evening wind blew the white muslin curtains out and in through the opened windows. The porch was low,--only a step from the ground,--and the grass of the dooryard felt soft and cool to the bare feet of the children. In front and all around lay the garden--flowers and fruit quaintly intermingled. Down the long path to the gate, where three roads met, great bunches of peonies lifted white blossoms--luminously white in the moonlight; and on either side rows of currant bushes cast low, dark shadows, and here and there dwarf crab-apple trees tossed pale, scented flowers above them. In the dusky evening light the iris flowers showed frail and iridescent against the dark shadows under the bushes. The children chattered quietly at their play, as if they felt a mystery around them, and small Betty was sure she saw fairies dancing on the iris flowers when the light breeze stirred them; but of this she said nothing, lest her practical older sister should drop a scornful word of unbelief, a thing Betty shrank from and instinctively avoided. Why should she be told there were no such things as fairies and goblins and pigwidgeons, when one might be at that very moment dancing at her elbow and hear it all?