ad been individually thanked by one of the
greatest commanders in Europe for her service and the services of her
friends to his soldiers and his country.

But there was another personal side to the situation which the Russian
hospital staff appeared to find more amazing.

General Dmitri Alexis was supposed never to speak to a woman. He was an
old bachelor and was said to greatly despise the frivolities of Russian
society women.

Incredible as it may seem, there is gossip even inside a great fortress
in time of war.

But Mildred's Russian companions had neither time nor opportunity to
reveal much to her at present. As soon as it was possible she begged
that she might be allowed to go to her own room. Although she shared
it with Nona and Barbara, neither one of them was there at the time.

But instead of lying down at once Mildred wrote a few lines to her
mother. She knew that she would be greatly pleased by the attention
that had just been paid her. Of course Mildred realized that the
General's thanks were not bestowed upon her as an individual, but
as a representative of the United States, whose sympathy and
friendliness Russia so greatly appreciated.

CHAPTER IV

_An Encounter_

Barbara had been writing a letter to Dick Thornton. She was seated on
the side of her cot bed in a tiny room high up in a tower, with only one
small window overlooking the courtyard below.

Although it was well into the twentieth century, this room was just such
an one as might have concealed the hapless Amy Robsart in the days of
Lord Leicester and Kenilworth Castle. But although Barbara had not to
suffer the thought of a faithless lover, at the present moment she was
feeling extremely sorry for herself.

Russia had no charms for her as it appeared to have for Mildred Thornton
and Nona Davis. She disliked its bleakness, its barbarity and the
strange, moody people it contained. Of course she realized that there
was another side to Russian life, before the present war its society was
one of the gayest in the world. But these days, when the Germans were
driving the Russian army backward and even further backward behind their
own frontiers, were days for work and silence, not social amusements.
Moreover, Barbara knew that she could never expect to have any part in
Russian social life when her mission lay among the wounded. So far she
had met only other Red Cross nurses, a few physicians and the soldiers
who required her care.