Lieutenant Orlaff stared at the girl beside him. It was impossible to see anything but the outline of her face, yet he could observe its pallor and the sheen of her hair under the nurse's cap. Besides, he felt the contempt she had not allowed herself to express, for the Russian is singularly proud and sensitive.
"I repeat that I am very sorry," the young officer added. "You are wrong in thinking I take Sonya Valesky's fate lightly. Her family and mine, as I once told you, have been friends for many years. After the death of her parents my father was for a little time her guardian until she came of age. I will do what I can; I will write letters to her relatives and to people who were once her friends. But I warn you to expect nothing. Long ago they became weary of her wild theories and have had nothing to do with her for years."
"Then all the more reason why I should do what I can. Even if I accomplish nothing, at least Sonya will have the comfort of knowing that a friend is near her during her trial," the girl said aloud, although really not addressing her companion.
During the latter part of his speech she had been thinking very rapidly. First of all, she must ask for a leave of absence from her Red Cross nursing and explain that it was necessary for her to return to Petrograd for a time. But where was she to obtain the money for her expenses? She had nothing of her own except the few roubles which she was paid for her work and which she had forfeited when she undertook to care for Sonya Valesky. In all probability when Mildred Thornton knew her mission she could borrow the money from her. But then this would mean a delay so long that she might be of no service to Sonya. For Mildred kept only a small amount of extra money with her and would be compelled to write her father for any large sum. Weeks would pass before Judge Thornton could receive his daughter's request and then there would be more time required for the transmission of the check.
However, besides Mildred there was Eugenia who could be appealed to for aid. There was no doubt of Eugenia's assistance, once she learned Sonya Valesky's story and realized why she had seemed a suspicious character to all of them in the days of their meeting on board the "Philadelphia." But Eugenia was away off somewhere in France nursing in a Red Cross hospital near her husband's line of trenches. It would also take time to reach Eugenia. Nevertheless she was the best person to whom to make a request.