But--after all--was there not some little excuse for her?
He thought of the hundreds of women he had known, and wondered if there was one among them all who had not at some time fallen into this same little error as Mrs.
Becker.

For the first time he began to look at himself.

Mrs.Becker had laughed with Bucky Nome, her cheeks had grown a little flushed, her eyes had shone radiantly--but were those things a sin?
Had those same eyes not looked up into his own, filled with a sweetness that thrilled him, when he bent over her beside the fire out on the Churchill trail?
Was there not that same lovely flush in her face when his lips had almost touched her hair?
And had not the colonel's sudden return brought a flush into both their faces?
He smiled to himself, and for a moment he thrilled ecstatically.

The reaction came like a shock.

In an instant other scenes--other faces--flashed upon him, and again he saw the luring, beautiful face of Eileen Hawkins, who smiled on men as Mrs.
Becker had smiled on Bucky Nome and on him.
He closed his eyes and tried to force himself into sleep, but failed.
At last he rose silently from his bunk, filled his pipe, and sat down in the darkness beside the stove.