Trove sat busy with his own thoughts while Thurston Tilly, warming to new confidence, boiled over with enthusiasm for the far west. A school friend of the boy came, by and by, whereupon Tilly whistled on his thumb and hurried away.
"Did you know," said the newcomer, when Trove and he were alone, "that Roberts—the man who tried to send you up—is a young lawyer and is going to settle here? He and Polly are engaged."
"Engaged!"
"So he gave me to understand."
"Well, if she loves him and he's a good fellow, I 've no right to complain," Trove answered.
"I don't believe that he's a good fellow," said the other.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, a detective is—is—"
"A necessary evil?" Trove suggested.
"Just that," said the other. "He must pretend to be what he isn't and—well, a gentleman is not apt to sell himself for that purpose, Now he's trying to convince people that you knew as much about the crime as Darrel. In my opinion he isn't honest. Good looks and fine raiment are all there is to that fellow—take my word for it."