"But suppose he wants you to marry a Chinese?"

Nancy saw nothing extraordinary in this.

"I have to marry the man my father chooses."

"Well, I think it's shameful," protested Elizabeth. "You are too pretty, Nancy, to be thrown away like that. You ought to choose your own husband. Suppose he should have some more wives; would you like that?"

"No," Nancy admitted.

"Could you stop him from having more wives?"

"No."

"Do you want to marry a Chinese?"

"No," said Nancy for the third time, "I don't want to marry anyone. I want to be a nun."

This was a greater blow than anything she had said.