Bertha's governess, and they, besides quickly picking up
Chinese, came and took English lessons from Mrs. Grey very often.

At the American Legation Nelly had a friend, Bessie Bates, who had a
brother named Bob, a regular tease. Bessie was only eight, but Bob was
eleven, and every one said that he ought to be at school in America.
Then there were several children living in the mission compounds, but
none of them were near Nelly. At one of the missions there were fifteen
children among the four families stationed there. Nelly told her mother
that it made her hoarse to go to that mission, because there were so
many people to talk to.

Even if there had been no other companions, Nelly would have been
content to be with her father and mother. She used to love the time just
before she went to bed, when Mrs. Grey nearly always read to her and
told her stories about England. They often talked of Nelly's brother
Tom, who had gone to school at Brighton when the Greys came to Peking.

With seven o'clock came Nelly's amah to put her to bed. The amah would
have willingly done everything for Nelly, but Mrs. Grey insisted that
she must undress herself and not become helpless, as children brought up
in the East often do, because there are so many servants to wait on
them. At first she used to feel a little afraid when the amah blew out
the candle and left her alone in her little bed in the middle of a great
big dark room; but her mother had taught her that God takes care of us
in the dark just the same as at any other time, and she soon learnt to
curl herself up and go quietly to sleep.

CHAPTER II

LOST

One Monday, when Nelly had had her tea, she went out of doors to watch
for her father coming home. He had been out on his pony, and Nelly
wanted him to take her up and give her a ride round the compound. The
large gates were open, because the gatekeeper had just been out and seen
Mr. Grey coming, so Nelly ran out into the road without thinking what
she was doing. If she had stopped to think, most likely she would not
have passed the gate, as she knew that she never went outside the
Legation compound alone. However, she soon saw her father, who was very
much surprised and rather alarmed to see his little girl there. But Mr.
Grey, who spoilt Nelly, did not scold her, but stopped, took her up, and
gave her the ride she wanted. He meant to reprove Chu Ma for not looking
better after her charge, but he did not see her again