"You can't," laughed Latimer. "I tried once, but my companion looked bored, and I stopped. 'Oh, go on,' he said, politely; 'you are interested!'"
When the merriment had subsided, Eva exclaimed:
"I'm sick and tired of the West! I want to live in New York, Washington, abroad—anywhere but Montana!"
"I wish that we might, dear," said the judge, patiently; "perhaps we can some day."
"By the way," remarked Eva, her thoughts flying inconsequently to another subject, "I've promised to read a paper on 'The Judiciary of Montana' before our club to-morrow. Tell me all about it, Arthur, and I'll write the essay this evening." She looked at the group in surprise. What had she said to raise such shouts?
As soon as her husband could speak he wiped his eyes.
"It's a pretty big subject for me to discuss now," he said; "but I'll write something. That will be better than confusing your mind with it. These club-women," he went on indulgently, addressing the others, "are so fervid—so much in earnest."
"Are you a club-woman, too?" the doctor asked Winifred, and Danvers waited her reply.
"I used to be," dolefully. "But I am a renegade, or a degenerate. I was allowed to join the classic circle of a Dante Club, and for two years we (perhaps I'd better say I) agonized over the prescribed study—the course was sent out by the university. But when the third year arrived I wearied of well-doing. I was horrid, I know; but the subject was remote as to time, and dead as to issues. I like live topics, real issues—Montana politics, for instance."
"You might have joined the Current Events Club," reproached Mrs. Latimer. "To be sure, it's sometimes hard to find topics for the next meeting, but we get along. Club work broadens our minds and widens our sphere," she concluded, with a pretty air of triumph.