'To be sure,' said their first acquaintance; 'I have told the coolie (a Chinese servant who does only the rough work) to bring you something.'
She had hardly finished speaking when the man arrived with two bowls, in which was a sort of soup containing little pieces of meat and vegetables. The children were given chopsticks with which to fish out the meat, and were expected to take the soup from the bowl. Then they had a piece of Chinese bread, which is like steamed dumpling, and half an apple each. Nelly might have enjoyed the meal if there had not been eight eyes watching her all the time, and the old woman constantly peering at her clothes 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 known what to do; for Bessie never even put on her own shoes and stockings. Nellie would have liked her bath to-day, although she often felt that she could do very well without it. But she knew that it was impossible to have one, and made up her mind to dress without washing. Imagine her surprise when she found that her clothes had been taken away from the corner of the kang where she had left them, and a little suit of Chinese girl's things put in their place! They were not new clothes either, although they certainly did look fairly clean. Just then An Ching woke, and laughed when she saw Nelly standing without anything on but the little white petticoat she had slept in, and looking for her clothes.