The unseen ear

By NATALIE SUMNER LINCOLN
Author of “I Spy,” “The Moving Finger,” “The Nameless Man,” “The Red Seal,” “The Three Strings,” etc.
With Frontispiece
A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers      New York
Published by arrangement with D. Appleton & Company
Printed in U. S. A.
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Copyright, 1920, by Street and Smith PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO MY MOTHER WHOSE UNFLAGGING INTEREST HAS STIMULATED MY LITERARY WORK, THIS LATEST BOOK IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED.
CONTENTS
THE UNSEEN EAR
The bedroom door opened and closed on its oiled hinges without a sound, and a man walked over to the closet. With methodical care he hung his coat on its accustomed peg before moving deliberately over to his bureau. On its highly polished top he laid down a soiled scrap of paper. His quiet, orderly actions gave no indication of the rage consuming him. As he raised his head his eyes traveled upward and he started back involuntarily at the face contemplating him in the mirror. His face—but was that distorted countenance his face? With a shudder he glanced over his shoulder and about the room; then slowly, fearfully he turned to face his other self mirrored in the glass before him.
Judith Richards poked the fire into a brighter blaze, then leaned back in her chair with a little sigh of content and idly turned over the pages of the book she had been reading. The happy ending recorded in the romance reflected her own mood. Two months a bride! Her lips parted in a tender smile as events of her happy married life recurred to her, and dropping the book in her lap, she rested her head against the tufted chair and watched the burning logs in dreamy contemplation. She was not conscious of the lateness of the hour or of the fact that she was no longer alone in the large library.