"Arthur has changed," said Danvers, sadly.
"I'll never forget," said the doctor, speaking more freely than ever before, "the time when Latimer first discovered that Eva did not care for him. He took it all to himself, and was broken-hearted because he had failed to keep her affections. Think of it!"
"Did she ever care for him?" Danvers could not resist asking.
"I hardly think so. I always had an idea that her heart—what there is of it—was captured by an army officer." He looked slyly at his companion as they walked through the gloom.
"Nothing so low in rank as a second lieutenant!" evaded Danvers.
"You were fortunate, after all, Philip, though it would have been better for Eva. She needed a master—and she took our gentle, sensitive, chivalrous Arthur! He will break; break like fine tempered steel when the strain becomes too great."
The summer sped hot and with but little rain. Some ten days before the state convention, the Doctor and Danvers went to Helena. A strong opposition to Judge Latimer's renomination had developed, which was not traceable to any definite source. Although Danvers avowed a dislike for politics, in reality he had the inherent instinct for political life characteristic of the upper-class Englishman, and he threw himself into the maelstrom with all his forces well in hand. Office-seeking was disgusting to him, but the fight for his friend seemed worth the effort.