Ever since the evening in camp when Wentworth had confided in him that he had the coat, Hedin had been debating his course of procedure.  His first impulse had been to denounce Wentworth to his face, to seize the coat and obtain the engineer’s arrest.  He knew that Downey expected to return to the post—­but there was Jean to consider.  Jean—­the girl of his fondest dreams, who had forsaken him and fallen under the spell of the courtly manners of the suave soldier-engineer.  What would Jean think?  If she loved the man she would never believe in his guilt.  She would believe, with a woman’s irrational loyalty, that he, Hedin, had in some manner contrived to place the coat in Wentworth’s possession, and he knew that the engineer would never cease to proclaim that he had been made the dupe of a scheming lover.  The case against the man must be plain.  When Jean could be shown that Wentworth deliberately endeavored to cheat her father, she would then believe that he stole the coat.  She would be saved from throwing herself away, and he—­Hedin’s lips moved, “I will hire out to the Company, and ask to be sent to the northern-most post they’ve got.”

Upon his arrival at the post, Wentworth made out two reports, one to McNabb and the other to Orcutt, which he dispatched to the railway by a Company Indian.  Late in the afternoon, as he was polishing his instruments in the little cabin, the figure of Sven Larson appeared in the doorway.  The engineer motioned him to enter and close the door behind him.  “Where is Murchison?” he asked, glancing through the window toward the post.

“He has gone in a boat with Wawake to set the fish nets.”

Without a word Wentworth stepped across the room, unlocked his trunk, and from its depths drew the sable coat that Hedin had last seen upon the shoulders of Jean McNabb as she walked from the store upon that memorable Saturday.  With a conscious effort he controlled himself, and reaching out his hand took the coat and carried it to the window.  He was conscious that the engineer’s eyes were fastened intently upon him as, inch by inch, he carefully examined the garment whose every skin—­every hair, almost—­was familiar to him.  Still holding the coat, he spoke more to himself than to Wentworth.  “A fine piece.  All good dark Yakutsk skins.  And the matching is good.  Only one skin a shade off——­”

“What’s it worth?” asked Wentworth abruptly.  “I don’t care a damn about the specifications.  They don’t mean anything to me.  I knew it was a fine garment the minute I spotted it, and I knew Hedin was lying when he said it was a marten.”

“Hedin?” queried the clerk.  “Was that the name of the princess?  She must be a fool to say this is a marten.”

“No, no!  Hedin is a man.  And he is a fool, all right.  Fool enough to let a damn fool girl make a fool of him——­”

Wentworth suddenly saw a blinding flash of light.  He felt himself falling; then he lay very still as a shower of little star-like sparks flowed upward from a black abyss.