lived, M'sieu David. It is not hard to fight for a good brother--but if
he is bad, it may take an angel to do it!"

He stared, thoughts tangling themselves in his head. A slow shame crept
over him. She had cornered him. She had convicted him of unfairness to
the one creature on earth his strength and his manhood were bound to
protect--a woman. She had convicted him of judging without fact. And in
his head a voice seemed to cry out to him, "What did Carmin Fanchet
ever do to you?"

He rose suddenly to his feet and stood at the back of his chair, his
hands gripping the top of it. "Maybe you are right," he said. "Maybe I
was wrong. I remember now that when I got Fanchet I manacled him, and
she sat beside him all through that first night. I didn't intend to
sleep, but I was tired--and did. I must have slept for an hour, and SHE
roused me--trying to get the key to the handcuffs. She had the
opportunity then--to kill me."

Triumph swept over the face that was looking up at him. "Yes, she could
have killed you--while you slept. But she didn't. WHY?"

"I don't know. Perhaps she had the idea of getting the key and letting
her brother do the job. Two or three days later I am convinced she
would not have hesitated. I caught her twice trying to steal my gun.
And a third time, late at night, when we were within a day or two of
Athabasca Landing, she almost got me with a club. So I concede that she
never did anything very terrible to me. But I am sure that she tried,
especially toward the last."

"And because she failed, she hated you; and because she hated you,
something was warped inside you, and you made up your mind she should
be punished along with her brother. You didn't look at it from a
woman's viewpoint. A woman will fight, and kill, to save one she loves.
She tried, perhaps, and failed. The result was that her brother was
killed by the Law. Was not that enough? Was it fair or honest to
destroy her simply because you thought she might be a partner in her
brother's crimes?"

"It is rather strange," he replied, a moment of indecision in his
voice. "McVane, the superintendent, asked me that same question. I
thought he was touched by her beauty. And I'm sorry--very sorry--that I
talked about her when I was sick. I don't want you to think I am a bad
sort--that way. I'm going to think about it. I'm going over the whole
thing again, from the time I manacled Fanchet, and if I find that I was
wrong--and I ever meet Carmin Fanc