hat the last bridge over the Styr was blown up.
The other five, General Alexis, his physician, and one officer and we
two women started west in an effort to join the retreating regiments,
who were to come up with a portion of the Grand Duke's army."

"Goodness, Mildred Thornton, what an experience you have been through!"
Nona ejaculated. "Yet you talk as quietly as if it were almost an
ordinary occurrence!"

Mildred shook her head. "It is not because I feel it an ordinary
experience, Nona, but because so much has happened I am overpowered by
the bigness of it. Really, when we got safely away from the fort, the
battle, or at least my share in it, was only about to begin. We had gone
a few miles into the country, when General Alexis became desperately
ill. Unless he could have immediate attention his physician said there
was no possible hope for his life."

Barbara had by this time slipped out of her chair and was sitting on the
floor with her hands clasped over her knees, looking all eyes, and
rocking herself slowly back and forward as a relief for her excitement.

"But you brought your general back with you, Mildred Thornton, or you
said you did. How on earth did you manage about him?" she interrupted.

"That is just what I am going to tell you, because that explains where I
have been and why I have not been able to let you hear from me. Our
Russian doctor ordered our motor car stopped and we entered a Russian
house some distance from any main road. We purposely chose a house that
had been deserted, and there we have been for two weeks, struggling to
save the life of General Alexis. Of course, his wound had been more
serious than he would admit. The wonder is that he is still alive!"

"But he has recovered?" Barbara inquired with her usual unsatisfied
curiosity. "Goodness, Mill, what a heroine you will be, to have nursed
one of the most famous generals in the Allied armies and to have
restored him to health. Won't your mother be charmed!"

Naturally Mildred smiled. The thought of her mother's pleasure in her
distinction _had_ occurred to her several times in the last two weeks.

"Oh, of course I am glad to have had the honor, Bab, because I too think
General Alexis a great man. He is perhaps the simplest man I have ever
known, except my father, and I like him very much. Only he has not
recovered and I have not restored him to health. If General Alexis had
recovered he would never have come to Petrograd, he would