“How old is she?” asked Mrs Bannister. She had no idea what was coming, but for some reason she wanted to help him, in spite of her feeling of drained exhaustion.

“Just nine years old … That was a wonderful experience for me,” he repeated. “I felt as though” – he was groping – “as though I wanted to make a thank-offering – for my little girl, for the gift of sight.” He turned aside, blew his nose, and then faced Mrs Bannister squarely. “You should go all around the country,” he said. “Coast to coast. Tell everybody about it.”

“That would be a very big undertaking,” said Mrs Bannister.

The man nodded. “I know. And I’d like to help out. You must have had a lot of expenses with this thing already. As well as a lot of worry.”

“There’ve been expenses, certainly. I hadn’t thought about it.”

“That’s because you’re a wonderful woman … I’d like to help,” he repeated. “You ought to establish a fund. Not just for her. For all the blind.” He stopped in front of Esther, looking down at her almost hungrily. “She’s such a lovely kid. You saw what we felt about her. Think what you and she could do for the blind.”

“That might be true.”

“I’d like to help,” he said, for the third time. Suddenly he dipped into his pocket, drew out a piece of paper, and held it towards her. Mrs Bannister saw, without surprise, that it was a cheque, already made out.

“Here,” he said to Mrs Bannister. “Let this be the start of it. You’ll have to excuse the writing,” he went on, smiling now as if an ordeal were past. “I was a bit shaky when I filled it out.”

It reached her hand, and rested there. “But I can’t take this,” said Mrs Bannister, no longer unmoved. Her astonished eyes had just noted that the cheque was for twenty thousand dollars. “It’s too generous – it’s too much. I won’t know what to do with it at all.”

“It’s a lot of money,” the man agreed. “I’m not all that rich, either. I guess you realize the way I feel, now …” There was relief and satisfaction in his voice, as if he were reaching out towards her, eager to share the peace he had won. “But I know you’ll take care of it all right. For Esther’s sake. For all the blind.”

Part Two

Chapter Eight

When Mrs Bannister opened the door of her apartment, and found it was Mrs Forbes who stood outside, she was not especially pleased. But for the sake of an old friendship, she smiled hospitably as she stood aside.

“Come in,” she said, “come right in. You’re a real stranger. You haven’t been round to see us in months and months.”

“But you’re so famous!” Mrs Forbes looked closely at her. “My, you’re smart these days, Belle. Are you just going out?”

“Soon, yes. We have another meeting tonight, a big one.”