"Of course. Well, this man would not listen at all at first, and was very angry at my father's interference; but after a while we met him again at Peking, and in time both he and his wife learnt to believe, and to long for Christian baptism, before receiving which they not only left off worshipping their family idols, but even destroyed them. A short time ago I heard that this man had become a native lay teacher, and was a great help to the mission, as he could, of course, always make himself understood to his own countrymen, who were also not unlikely to be won by his example."
"What was his name?" asked Leonard.
"Tung-Sean."
"And that of the other convert?"
"Li-Hung. He was a much older man, and was sitting, I remember, the day we first saw him, in a field, resting from his work, and as he caught sight of my father he began to call him all sorts of names, amongst which was to be heard very often that of 'foreign devil.' I believe he even looked for stones to throw at us. Your grandfather—always a very quiet, self-possessed man—just dropped some tracts at his side, translated into Chinese. We often saw Li-Hung again, and though he gave us much trouble, a month before my father died he had the happiness also of witnessing this man's conversion to the true faith."
"Grandfather must have been very pleased," Sybil said.
"He was; but I think now I have something rather interesting to tell you of our journey from Tientsin to Peking. We went in carts drawn by two mules, one in front of the other, and at night we slept at inns, where, I think, you would like to hear about our sleeping accommodation. It was winter, and as the Peking winter is cold, people there, to make themselves warm at night, sleep on kangs. As these were different at both inns to which we went, I will tell you about both.
A KANG.
"In one the kang consisted of a platform built of brick, so much larger than a bed that several people could sleep on it at once. A kind of tunnel passed through the platform, which had a chimney at one end, whilst at the other end, a little while before bed-time, a small quantity of dry fuel was set on fire, when the flame passed through the tunnel and out of the chimney. In this way the kang was warmed, when felt matting was put upon it. Here we lay down, and were covered over with a kind of cotton-wool counterpane.