“You—why, Nona!” Mildred faltered, too surprised for the moment to answer intelligently, because her friend’s speech so oddly fitted into her own thoughts. “Did you accept him?”
It was dark in the room, and yet Mildred could see that Nona had risen half way up in bed.
“My gracious, no!” she ejaculated. “In the first place, I don’t care for him at all, and in the second, I just want to get hold of my dear Sonya and return home to the United States. If your general does have her pardoned I shall say prayers for him every night of my life. Funny, but I believe I am afraid of Russia, even though I am half Russian. Still, my mother did prefer to come to America to live. I simply couldn’t bear living in Russia always, could you, Mildred?” Nona ended, as she again dropped back on her pillow.
But Mildred only answered, “I don’t know,” which was not in the least conclusive.
CHAPTER XVII
The Departure
FOUR days later the three American girls left Petrograd. This was sooner than they had expected to leave, but a desirable opportunity arose for them to get safely across the continent and into France.
The journey was a long and tiresome one, as they had to cross the northern countries of Finland, Sweden and Norway until finally they were able to reach Holland, and thence journey to England and France. But it was not possible to make the trip in any other way, since all of southern Europe was engaged in active fighting.