"So you are the one who is in that position."
"Yes; that is, I have been."
"You mean there is another now; that is, of course, Mr. Avery?"
"Yes; here at this house Mr. Avery and I, and Mr. Avery at the office. There are some others at the office whom Father trusts, but not completely; and it is not necessary to trust them wholly, for all Father's really important decisions are made at the house, and the most important records are kept here. Before Mr. Avery came, I was the only one who helped here at the house."
"When was that?"
"When Mr. Avery came? About five years ago. Father had an immense amount of work at that time. Business conditions were very much unsettled. There was trouble at that time between some of the big Eastern and the big Western men, and at the same time the Government was prosecuting the Trusts. Nobody knew what the outcome of it all would be; many of the biggest men who consulted Father were like men groping in the dark. I don't suppose you would remember the time by what I say; but you would remember it, as nearly everybody else does by this: it was the time of the murder of Mr. Latron."
"Yes; I remember that," said Eaton; "and Mr. Avery came to you at that time?"
"Yes; just at that time I was thrown from my horse, and could not do as much as I had been doing, so Mr. Avery was sent to Father."
"Then Mr. Avery was reading to him at the time you speak of—the time of the Latron murder?"
"No; Mr. Avery came just afterward. I was reading to him at that time."