ars of her life, Sonya Valesky, now Mrs. David
Clark, had been through many and varied adventures; some of them, in her
young womanhood in Russia, had been tragic, others merely difficult. But
after a few days in Luxemburg, amid the effort to establish the
temporary Red Cross hospital, Sonya believed that she had rarely
suffered a more trying interlude.

It was not the actual work of the hospital arrangements or the care of
the sick. Of the first Miss Blackstone took charge and she was eminently
capable; for the second Dr. Hugh Raymond was responsible. Both of them
had able assistants. The upper part of the house was set apart for the
care of the officers and soldiers suffering from influenza, and there
were about twenty cases; the second floor was reserved as sleeping
quarters for the staff with a few extra rooms for patients who were ill
and in need of attention from other causes so they should not be exposed
to contagion. On the lower floor was a reception room, dining room and
kitchen, with the drawing room for convalescents.

But as usual Sonya Clark's task was looking after the Red Cross nurses,
seeing not only that they were in good health, but as happy and
contented as possible, giving their best service and in little danger of
breakers ahead.

Nevertheless, within forty-eight hours after the passing of the American
troops through Luxemburg, it appeared to Sonya that some unexpected
change had taken place in her group of Red Cross nurses.

What they were actually ordered to do they did in a fairly dutiful
fashion, but the old enthusiasm, the old passionate desire for service
had vanished. Among the entire group of nurses a relaxation of
discipline had taken place. The excitement of their journey, the
knowledge that the war had ended in the allied victory, a natural
desire for pleasure after so long a strain, apparently possessed them
alike, except Nora Jamison who was comparatively new to the work, and
seemed in every way an unusual girl.

Frankly Bianca Zoli confessed to Sonya, not long after their arrival in
Luxemburg, that she was weary of the endless waiting upon the nurses and
patients and needed a short rest. And Sonya agreed that this was true.
Bianca was younger than any member of their Red Cross unit and had been
faithful and untiring in her devotion for many months during the final
allied struggle for victory. Moreover, Bianca also appeared slightly
depressed and Sonya wisely guessed this was part