esieged fortress that might fall at any hour? Surely her
situation was more fraught with danger than any in which the Red Cross
girls had found themselves since their arrival in Europe.

Nona wished that she had taken sides with Barbara more decisively and
refused to leave Grovno unless Mildred accompanied them.

But Mildred had disappeared so quickly. Then the order had come for
their departure almost at the same instant. There had been so little
time to protest or even to think what was best. Certainly Mildred
herself should have refused to accept such a dangerous responsibility.
But at the same moment that Nona condemned her friend, she realized that
she would have done exactly the same thing in her place. In coming to
assist with the Red Cross nursing they had promised to put the thought
of duty first. Mildred could not shirk the most important task that had
yet been asked of her.

Perhaps no harm would befall her. Certainly Nona appreciated that
everything possible would be done to insure Mildred's safety. Her life
and honor would be the first charge of the soldiers surrounding her.
Moreover, General Alexis would certainly leave the fortress before there
was a chance of his being taken prisoner. He was too valuable a
commander to have his services lost and the Germans would regard him as
too important a capture.

So Nona's attention wandered from Mildred to her other friend, Sonya
Valesky. What had become of Sonya and how was she ever to find her in
the great and unknown city of Petrograd? If she only had a friend to
consult, but she had even been compelled to leave Grovno without seeing
Lieutenant Orlaff again. He had promised to write a few letters in
Sonya's behalf, although assured that they would do no good.

Yet in some way Nona was determined to discover the Russian woman.
Perhaps the Czar himself might be brought to pardon Sonya if he heard
that she would leave for the United States and never return to Russia
again. Then Nona smiled and sighed at the same time over her own
simplicity. The Czar was at the head of his troops, with the fate of
his crown and his country at stake. "What did one woman more or less
count in times like these?"

Before daylight Nona must have also slept, because she was finally
awakened by the stopping of their ambulance wagon.

When she opened her eyes she was surprised to see a rose flush in the
sky and to hear the slow puffing of an engine.

The wagons had arrived at a s