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He had considered it as an odd thing, in his thoughts of her since their meeting, that, though he could always have some kind of notion what other women were wearing, he never could remember any detail of Nona's dress. But it was her face he always looked at. She stood still immediately she was across the threshold and the door closed behind her.
Then she looked deep into Nona's golden brown eyes with her own strangely glowing blue ones, and whispered: "I have done nothing of which I am ashamed, Nona, or I should never have asked for your friendship. It may be that I can make the Russian people understand, but I do not feel sure. This war has made men blinder than ever. I have only tried to be a follower of the 'Prince of Peace."
The older woman explained that she had known Nona's mother many years ago when they were both children in Russia, although she was a number of years younger. There was as little as possible of Sonya Valesky's own history in the letter. She stated without proof or comment that her father had once been Russian Ambassador to the United States.
He embraced me time after time, saying that we should never set eyes on each other again and that, confession or no confession, he knew his doom was not far off; but he wanted me, as long as I lived, to remember the gratitude of Nona's husband, his thankfulness for my treatment of his family and his efforts to requite the service. "Keep up a good heart, lad," he said.
Mildred really refused to consider that the older woman could have known Nona's mother years before in their own country. Her story was too incredible to be believed. Barbara had not taken this same point of view. At the present moment she was going over the situation in retrospection.
The really remarkable thing was, not that the other woman should be familiar with Nona's mother's history, but that her own daughter should be so in ignorance. For her part she intended to advise Nona to listen to whatever their former friend wished to tell her. But just as Barbara opened her lips to offer this advice, her companion spoke.
Then it occurred to her that the woman before her was so associated with mysteries that a family problem must be comparatively simple. Doubtless she had been able to discover more of Nona's mother's history than she herself had ever found out.
She was wearing Nona's kimono, and it is always easier to talk confidentially with one's hair down, if one happens to have the mass that Mildred had. The very weight of it was oppressive when she was tired. "Yes, it was terribly interesting toward the last," she went on, "although I don't believe even then we were in great danger. General Alexis is too wise to have permitted that.
She had been in hiding here near Grovno for several months and had hoped to escape their vigilance. Evidently Sonya had been arrested by the Russian authorities. In spite of Nona's insistence that her patient was not well enough to be moved, Sonya agreed to go with them at once. And only at the moment of parting did she bestow any confidence upon the younger girl.
Now naturally Barbara thought her companion meant to talk of her recent experience. Neither one of them attempted conversation at the beginning of their walk, for the main road was as filled with supplies of every kind that were being hauled to the great fort, as it had been on the day of Nona's solitary excursion. But indeed this was a daily occurrence.
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