first and
hurried off to the only privacy that was possible under the
circumstances. Because she was looking forward to a long and serious
conversation with her two friends she made ready to meet the situation
as comfortably as possible. This means that Barbara slipped out of her
nursing uniform and into the pretty kimono that Mildred had presented
her with long ago in Paris. Then, while she waited for the others, she
read Dick's and Eugenia's latest letters once again.

At last Dick had arrived in New York City and was writing from the
lovely home Barbara remembered so well. He had only been there a little
while when this letter had been written, but already Dick had confided
the news of his engagement to his mother and father.

Barbara could read between the lines in a characteristic feminine
fashion. Dick declared that his father was delighted to hear of his
happiness and that he had not forgotten that they probably owed their
son's life to the girl to whom he was now engaged.

But Judge Thornton agreed with his son--a man should be able to support
his wife before he married. Therefore he meant to do all that he could
to get Dick started in the right way, so that he might go ahead as
quickly as possible.

Dick did not seem to feel that it would take very long to accomplish
this delectable result, but to Barbara, away off in Russia, a land she
both disliked and feared, the situation looked pretty indefinite.

Moreover, Dick had said nothing about the way in which his mother had
received the news of a prospective daughter-in-law. This was not an
oversight on Dick's part; Barbara understood him too well to be deceived
into any such impression. He and his mother were too intimate and
devoted for him not to care intensely about her attitude toward the girl
he wished to marry. Never could he have forgotten to mention his
mother's position! No, it was merely what she had always expected. Mrs.
Thornton thoroughly disapproved of her son's engagement and Dick would
not wound the girl he loved by writing her this fact. Later there was a
chance that his mother might be persuaded to change her mind. But in any
case it would be easier to explain by word of mouth than coldly to set
down the present situation.

Moreover, if Barbara had required further proof, she would have had it
in the fact that Mrs. Thornton had not written her a single line to say
either that she was glad or sorry that the daughter of her husband's old
fr