es from here, and it is wonderfully like yours."

The colonel was laughing at him when he turned. He was a little man,
as straight as a gun rod, pale of face except for his nose, which was
nipped red by the cold, and with a pointed beard as white as the snow
under his feet. That part of his countenance which exposed itself above
the top of his great fur coat and below his thick beaver cap was alive
with good cheer, notwithstanding its pallor.

"Glad you're good humored about it, Steele," he cried with an immediate
tone of comradeship. "We wouldn't have ventured into your camp if it
hadn't been for Isobel. She was positively insistent, sir. Wanted to
see who was here and what it looked like. Eh, Isobel, my dear, are you
satisfied?"

"I surely didn't expect to find 'It' asleep at this time of the day,"
said Mrs. Becker. She laughed straight into Philip's face, and so
roguishly sweet was the curve of her red lips and the light in her eyes
that his heart quickened its beating, and the flush deepened in his
cheeks.

"It's only six," he said, looking at his watch. "I don't usually turn
in this early. I was tired to-night--though I am not, now," he added
quickly. "I could sit up until morning--and talk. We don't often meet
people from outside, you know. Where are the others?"

"Back there," said the colonel, waving an arm into the gloom. "Isobel
made 'em sit down and be quiet, dogs and all, sir, while we came on
alone. There are Indians, two sledges, and a ton of duff."

"Call them," said Steele. "There's room for your tent beside mine,
Colonel, close against the face of this rock. It's as good as a
furnace."

The colonel moved a little out into the gloom and shouted to those
behind. Philip turned to find Mrs. Becker looking at him in a timid,
questioning sort of way, the laughter gone from her eyes. For a moment
she seemed to be on the point of speaking to him, then picked up a short
stick and began toying with the coals.

"You must be tired, Mrs. Becker," he said. "Now that you are near a
fire, I would suggest that you throw off your heavy coat. You will be
more comfortable, and I will bring you a blanket to sit on."

He dived into his tent and a moment later reappeared with a blanket,
which he spread close against the butt of a big spruce within half a
dozen feet of the fire. When he turned toward her, the colonel's wife
had thrown off her coat and turban and stood before him, a slim and
girlish figure, bewitchin