thes and feeling them.

When all was eaten they were told that they were to sleep on the kang
with the girl, who would look after them until morning. The other three
then left them, shutting and locking the door.

As soon as they were gone, the girl began to talk freely. She said her
name was An Ching, and that she was the daughter-in-law of the woman Ku
Nai-nai who had brought them there. Her husband was the son who, Ku
Nai-nai said, was to take them home. The boy was his brother and the old
woman their grandmother. Lowering her voice, she told them that her
husband was not away from home at all, and that he intended to keep
Nelly and Little Yi until he heard that a reward had been offered for
finding them, and for her part she was very glad that they were there.
It was very dull for An Ching. Her mother-in-law would not let her stand
at the door and look up and down the street as some young wives were
allowed to do. She also told them that Hung Li, her husband, lived at a
city called Yung Ching, and he, she, and Ku Nai-nai were to go back
there next day.

An Ching was very anxious to see Nelly undress, and got quite excited
over her clothes. She had never seen foreign clothes before. Little Yi
became quite lively in showing off Nelly and talking about all the
wonderful things foreigners had, but Nelly felt very unhappy. She longed
for her dear father and mother and her own little bed, and she wanted to
kneel down and say her prayers, but felt afraid to do it before An
Ching. At last she found courage to say that she was going to pray, and
Little Yi at once began to explain the whole of the Christian religion
to An Ching. Meanwhile Nelly quietly knelt down upon the kang and said
her prayers, taking care to ask God to comfort her parents and send her
back to them soon. The poor child felt much happier when she had done
this. She crept into her quilt, and was soon asleep. Little Yi and An
Ching presently came and curled themselves up on the kang, and all was
silence until next morning.

CHAPTER III

A JOURNEY IN A CART

When Nelly woke next morning she felt rather stiff, for she had never
slept on a stone kang before. Little Yi and An Ching being still asleep,
Nelly got up very gently and said her prayers. Then she thought she
would get dressed before An Ching was able to annoy her by fingering all
her clothes. How thankful Nelly felt that she could dress herself!
Bessie Bates, she thought, would not have