, and could not remain indoors when she saw the party arrive.
She rushed hatless across the compound, and Nelly bounded to meet her.
Mother and child clung to each other with all their might, while Chu Ma
fairly wept for joy to see her baby, as she called Nelly. At the same
time Little Yi's parents dashed towards her and embraced her, and they
all began chattering and crying. Little Yi hoped An Ching would notice
how affectionate her father was.

It was not until they had gone indoors that Mr. and Mrs. Grey remembered
the Changs and An Ching. When Mr. Grey at length brought An Ching into
the room, Mrs. Grey kissed her too and thanked her for being so good to
Nelly.

Mrs. Grey herself put Nelly to bed that night. It seemed so strange to
Nelly to see everything just as she had left it. There was actually the
almanac on the wall with the coloured picture of Ruth and Boaz in the
field. Nelly had pinned this almanac up months ago when she was
attending a dancing class at the American Legation, because, she said,
'Boaz was doing the first position of the waltz step beautifully.' She
laughed, and it did her good and she felt glad and happy. As she said
her prayers that night, she felt as though she really loved God and that
He quite understood when she thanked Him for the gift of a good father
and mother.

CONCLUSION

The next few days Nelly spent quietly with her parents, and in showing
An Ching all the wonders of a foreign household. Then she was taken by
her father and mother to spend the rest of the summer in a Chinese
temple at the hills, where she soon saw all her friends.

Baby Buckle did not know her, of course, and the coat she had brought
him was too small, as he had grown very much. But he was 'darlinger'
than ever, Nelly said. Bessie Bates and Liza and Bertha were delighted
to see Nelly, but they seemed shy with her at first, and Bob Bates and
Arthur Macdonald treated her almost as though she had been a grown-up
lady. She was not very well all the summer, and the doctor advised a
change. 'England,' he said, 'would be a good thing.' 'And school,' added
Mr. Grey. And to England Nelly went in the autumn with her mother and An
Ching. She was left with her aunt in Brighton, where she attended a day
school near her brother Tom's. An Ching stayed with her and learnt to
speak English very well. The people of Brighton used to stare at An
Ching almost as much as the Chinese did at Nelly when she was stolen in
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