"You would make a first-class lobbyist!" he said lightly. "Have a care! A word from you would be worth ten of mine." Then, more seriously: "Don't talk too much of this, Eva. It is going to be a bad business before a senator is elected. Ugly rumors are heard already. I know of——" He changed his words. "Mr. Burroughs is not respected among men of integrity. Not even among men of low standards. His wealth is his only asset. Unscrupulous, defying investigation——" He pulled himself up. Never before had he expressed so definite a judgment on the millionaire.
But though he cautioned his wife, Latimer had no suspicion that it might be necessary. She had lived purely on the surface, showing no interest in anything but dress, society, herself. It did not occur to him that ambition might render her something more than a butterfly. In this respect Moore read the woman more accurately.
That week Helena was billed for Italian opera. The announcement of Il Trovatore made Danvers' heart leap with desire to hear it once more. He knew it was doubtful whether the company could sing, but it could not be wholly bad.
When he first heard the opera, during a boyish holiday in London, it was at the height of its popularity, and every evening of his vacation found him enthralled in the boxes. The isolation of the frontier had but made the old music more loved, and Philip decided to make up a box party of his friends. Miss Blair had told him that she had never heard it in its entirety. She should be the guest of honor. Judge and Mrs. Latimer, Blair, the doctor from Fort Benton and O'Dwyer should complete the party.
"The opera has been given for the last twenty years," said Senator Danvers to Miss Blair, as she expressed herself delighted to accept his invitation. "You could hardly get a corporal's guard to go across the street to hear it in New York, I fancy; but it was the first opera I ever heard, and I love the old airs."
The theater was filling fast as Danvers held the curtain aside for his guests to enter the box. The distractions of the opposing forces at the capitol were, for the time, dismissed, and he listened with amusement to Miss Blair as he assisted to remove her light opera cloak.
"I've never been in a theater box before," she confessed. "It makes one feel exclusive, doesn't it? And, oh, dear! dreadfully self-conscious. Suppose I fall out—over the railing? I'm sure I shall bring disgrace upon us!" She looked gaily at her host. "Suppose I should fall over?" she repeated, her eyes wide with pretense.
"Somebody would catch you," said matter-of-fact Eva.
"If you think that you are growing dizzy from looking over that fearful, two-foot precipice," said Danvers, adopting Winifred's tone, "I'm going to be the one to save you from a tragic death! I'll go around now, and get ready to be a hero!"
"Don't! A lady in an opera box is worth two in the orchestra seats," paraphrased Winifred, blithely. "I will not fall out."