few lines in reply to a dozen letters which a friend had
written for her. Katja herself could neither read nor write.

Although Nona could speak only a few words of Russian, she had learned
to read a little of the language with difficulty. Now she managed to
translate her friend's ideas, if not her exact words.

Sonya did not wish Katja to try to see her nor to attempt to appear at
the prison at the hour of her trial. Nothing could be done for her
release and Katja would only be made the more miserable. Neither was
Katja to let Nona know anything of her whereabouts until after sentence
was passed. Then if Katja could find the American girl she was to say
farewell for Sonya Valesky. She was also to thank Nona for her kindness
and add that the acquaintance with her friend's daughter had brought
Sonya much happiness.

Standing with the crumpled sheet of paper in her hand, written by the
woman who so soon expected to say farewell to the things that make life
worth living, Nona Davis felt her own cheeks flush and her eyes fill
with tears. How little had she really deserved the Russian woman's
affection, for how much she had distrusted her!

Well, Nona again determined to do all that was possible now to prove her
allegiance.

As soon as she could get away from Katja, Nona secured a sleigh and
drove at once to the house of the American Ambassador. Because her card
represented her as an American Red Cross nurse she felt assured that she
would be treated with every courtesy.

This was perfectly true, although obliged to wait half an hour; finally
one of the secretaries of the Ambassador invited the American girl into
a small office. She could not, of course, see the Ambassador without a
special engagement, but the secretary would be pleased to do whatever
was possible.

Nona was both pleased and relieved. The secretary proved to be a
southerner, a young fellow from Georgia, who could not have been more
than twenty-five years old. Certainly it was far easier to tell the
story of Sonya Valesky to him than to an older man or to one whose
time was more valuable.

Nevertheless, when she had finished, although there was no doubt of
the secretary's attention and interest, Nona found him equally as
discouraging as everybody else had been concerning Sonya Valesky's
fate and any part which she might have hoped to play in it. There
could be little doubt that Sonya would be condemned to Siberia. She
was a political prisoner and w