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"Now, Katerina Alexandrovna," Mada into the roo noisily "I have been infor" The heels of her boots clicked against the wooden floor as she hurried over to the s and threw open the curtains, letting in the brightsun

"Please, levski discovered about Dariya?"

"I would not presume to know," she said "The doctor has deemed it prudent to admit your cousin at the hospital for further exaed "She will be so frightened in the hospital by herself"

"Certainly not I have already sent word to Dariya&039;s family In the meanti with your parents I have also sent the them to co here?" That was unheard of, except in extreme cases of misbehavior Which, of course, applied to s

"You are to return to the classroom until I send for you Do not discuss either your cousin&039;s ill ness or your own behavior I would prefer that you not distress the other students with this news right now They will learn about Dariya soon enough" With that she picked up a fountain pen and began writing, ignoring ot up and walked down the hallway to the large classroousta stopped me in the hall on her way to her German class "How is Dariya?" she asked

"They won&039;t tell me," I said, which was partially true It had been years since any of us had been so ill that eren&039;t cared for in the sick wing

Even Princess Marija, Elena&039;s older sister, had been tended to here at Smolny instead of taken to a hospital Perhaps that hy she had not survived

If I tried to stop worrying about Dariya, I began to worry about myself I was not sure what my parents would say when they arrived and heard what I had done I took a deep breath as I opened the classroousta was about to ask me another question when Madame Orbel ani beckoned me inside She did not bother to stop the French lesson as I slid into my desk next to Elena&039;s

Elena smirked "You must be ine being brave enough to sneak out of Smolny like that!"

"Mesdemoiselles!" Madame Orbel ani warned "ecoutez, s&039;ill vous plait!" I bent my head down and pretended to studyout the large half-levski had found out rong with Dariya yet If it wasn&039;t influenza, why had it co came on rapidly-but it seemed to me that more of the students would have been affected At least none of the other girls had been ill enough to be taken to the hospital If they all shared the ill ness, perhaps that boded well for my poor cousin I hoped that she was on the road to recovery

"Katerina!" Elena hispering, trying desperately to gether, I looked back up at Madaoing to be an i as I feared We were eating lunch in the dining hall when one of the servants su room My parents had finally arrived Erzsebet looked at ave my hand a squeeze "I&039;ll say a prayer for you" My sto had colevski

"Where&039;s Maman?" I asked