n often wears. Then, although she did
not seem able to talk, she knew Nona and thanked her for coming and for
the advice she was giving the two old people.

But when Nona had finished with her orders she came and sat down near
Sonya.

"I have read your letter and I have not been able to answer it until
now. It seems like a miracle that I should have found out about my own
mother here in a strange land. But perhaps I was meant to take care of
you. You must promise to do what I tell you. I must go away now, but
I'll come back in a little while."

Nona was getting up when Sonya took hold of her skirt.

Her face was flushed and her dark blue eyes shining.

"You must not stay in this house, not for long at a time," she pleaded.
"I cannot explain to you why not, but perhaps when I am strong again I
can tell you enough to have you guess the rest. Now you must go."

Sonya took Nona's cool hands in her hot ones and held them close for a
moment.

The next moment the American girl had gone.

At the hospital inside the fortress she explained the situation, at
least so far as it could be explained. A Russian woman, who had once
been her friend, lay seriously ill at one of the nearby huts. Would one
of the hospital physicians come and see her? Also would it be possible
for her to be spared from caring for the soldiers to look after her
woman friend?

Certainly a Russian doctor would attend the case; moreover, after
certain formalities Nona was allowed a leave of absence from the
hospital demands.

Then began an experience for the young American girl that nothing in her
past two or more years of nursing had equaled.

She was living and working in a new world, amid surroundings which she
could not understand and of which she was afraid.

The little hut was crude and lonely. The two old peasants could speak no
English, but went about their tasks day after day mute and dolorous.
Sonya was too ill to recognize her nurse, and Nona could not allow
Barbara or Mildred to come near her, since her patient's illness was of
the most contagious nature.

Naturally Barbara and Mildred wholly disapproved of the risk Nona was
running and she had not time nor strength to make them see her side of
the situation. She had written them that Sonya Valesky had proved
herself to have been an old friend of her mother's. For that reason and
for several others she felt it her duty to care for her.

But strangest of all Nona's experiences were t