"No," she said, "no. He promised me he would not touch the boy. He promised he would not lead him astray."
"Then Barber has been here?" Slaughter cried.
The blind woman nodded.
"When?" Slaughter demanded.
"More than a month ago," she said in a subdued voice, as she shuddered. "Ask Ailleen. She will tell you when. It was the day the rail broke."
"Why, that was Tony—Tony Taylor," Ailleen exclaimed, glad of any chance of interposing between the two.
Slaughter looked at her wonderingly, and as he looked there came a curious expression into his eyes.
"I must have been blind, I take it," he said, more as though he were speaking to himself. "I must have been blind—up to now."
"And Willy was with Tony last night?" Ailleen asked.
Slaughter started as he heard her voice.