'No one cares for me here, and I am of no use in the world. If I can get away I shall try to come to you in Peking.'

'Oh, do,' said Nelly, delighted. 'How can it be managed?'

'I don't know. We must think it all out. I am not as stupid as Hung Li thinks,' replied An Ching. 'If I were sure that your father and mother would take me as a servant, I'd manage it.'

'I am certain they will when they hear how kind you have been to me,'

said Nelly. 'You shall come as my maid to England; but you can't do much, can you? You don't know about our ways; but never mind, I'll teach you. Wouldn't you like to learn some English to begin with?'

And Nelly at once began to give English lessons to An Ching, and Little Yi sometimes condescended to listen. They had no books, and it was only by repeating words and short sentences over and over again that anything could be done. Nelly was much bothered when she was asked the names of things that do not exist in English, such as the hair ornaments worn by the Chinese women. She was obliged to invent names for them. For instance, the embroidered band a Chinese girl wears as soon as she is old enough not to have her hair shaved in front Nelly called a 'hair-belt,' and the curved, flat ornament sticking out behind An Ching's head she christened 'head-protector.' Nelly was not quite sure that it was good English to invent names, but she said to herself, 'The Chinese call a tea-cosy "a tea-pot's hat" and a sewing machine "an iron tailor."' Greatly to Nelly's surprise and sorrow, there were times when she could not remember the names of things in English. She was, in fact, beginning to forget her own language. One day, when it had taken her a very long time to remember that 'wa-tzu' meant stockings, she was in great trouble, until Little Yi reminded her that she had always called them 'wa-tzu' in Peking. 'I've often heard you say that and lots of other things in Chinese when you were speaking English,' added Little Yi, decidedly.

Nelly next set to work to teach An Ching to sing hymns, and succeeded pretty well, as far as the tune was concerned, with the help of Little Yi, who, having often listened with all her ears to the singing in the Legation chapel on Sunday mornings, knew some of the airs quite well. An Ching and the two children used to go through the round gateway into the inner court, and while Nelly sang the words very distinctly, An Ching and Little Yi hummed the tune. 'Art thou weary' was their favourite hymn.

CHAPTER VII

THE CHESHIRE CAT

It began to be very hot about the middle of May. The Ku family had put their wadded clothes away and taken to cottons and thin silks. Nelly and Little Yi were also supplied with some very plain unwadded cotton coats and trousers at the same time. But in spite of this the little foreigner, as the Chinese called her, began to feel the heat and confinement of the small compound. She thought of her friends, who would all be preparing to go to the hills with their parents, and the days seemed very long. It was hard just to wait, with nothing at all happening. One day was just like another. There were no Sundays, no letters, no books, no lessons. The time was not even divided into weeks.

Nelly quite lost count of the date. She only knew it Chinese fashion, by the number of new moons there had been since the Chinese New Year.

It appeared as though Hung Li never would go to Peking as he had said, but he did start one day at the end of May, and An Ching told the children that he intended to see the barber and arrange for them to be handed over to their parents. He had business to do on the way to Peking as well as in that city, so that he would be away some time, An Ching said.

Nelly was very glad to see Hung Li start, and she leaped through the round hole in the wall again and again, really and truly jumping for joy. She made An Ching and Little Yi sing their very best and loudest, until the small court resounded with the strains of 'Art thou weary,'

and Ku Nai-nai, who was rather deaf, and shouted a good deal when she talked, heard the singing in her room, where she was sitting smoking on the kang. Little Yi and An Ching soon tired of singing so hard this hot day, but Nelly was too full of delight at the thought that Hung Li was actually off to feel any fatigue. She was more like little Nelly Grey of the British Legation than she had been since that unlucky day on which she wandered from home. She kept up her spirits and energy for two or three days, and then something happened.

One morning the two children and An Ching had been singing and Nelly giving her English lessons as usual, when Ku Nai-nai came out, and in her usual rough, loud, screaming voice when angry, demanded why they were wasting time there instead of helping to get the mid-day meal ready. An Ching had quite forgotten that the old woman-servant was not well, and was shut up in her room out of the way. The children began to follow An Ching; but Ku Nai-nai, who certainly appeared to have got out of bed the wrong side that morning (only you can't get off a kang except at one side), would not allow Nelly in the cook-house. 'No foreigners shall meddle with _my_ food,' she said; whereat Nelly was very glad, for she had only offered to go and help on An Ching's account.

So Ku Nai-nai hustled off An Ching and Little Yi, at the same time telling Nelly to stay where she was. Nelly, left to herself, drew the bench upon which she had been sitting quite near the wall, so as to be in the shade. Presently she heard something sc.r.a.ping against the wall on the other side, and it seemed as though there were voices quite close.

The Chinese being very fond or privacy, all the compound walls are built very high and solid, and as the houses are only one storey high, no one can see into his neighbour's premises. Nelly did not remember to have heard any sounds coming from the next compound before; but noises there were, sure enough, and the talking became more and more distinct. Nelly got up from her seat to look at the wall. As she did so, she saw what was evidently a Chinaman's head just above the top, and she heard him quite distinctly tell some one below 'to hold the ladder tight.' Nelly was just wondering what she should do, and was half inclined to run through the hole into the next court, when the rest of the head came into view, and she saw that it belonged to a plump, pleasant looking Chinaman. It was very round, and Nelly was at once reminded of the Cheshire cat in _Alice in Wonderland_. It and she looked at each other for some seconds. Nelly was the first to speak.

'Oh!' she said.

'A fine day,' said the head.

'Rather hot,' replied Nelly.

'Was that you singing?' asked the head.

'Yes,' answered Nelly.

'I can sing that too,' said the head.

Nelly was too much astonished to reply.

Then the head rose a little higher, and showed a pair of shoulders and arms. 'He does not look like the Cheshire cat now,' thought Nelly, 'but a rather nice Chinaman.' He continued:

'How is it that you have large feet? You look like a foreigner. Don't be afraid of me.'

Thus encouraged, Nelly replied:

'I am a foreigner, and of course I have large feet.'

'What are you doing here?' asked the man.

'I have been brought here,' replied Nelly vaguely, 'and I want to get away, but Ku Nai-nai will be very angry if she knows I am talking to you.'

'Then don't tell her,' said the man. 'I shan't. She is the woman who speaks so loudly, I suppose. I'll bob down if she comes. Where do you live?'

'Peking, the British Legation.'

And then Nelly told the man all about Little Yi and herself being brought to Yung Ching by Hung Li and Ku Nai-nai. When she had finished the man seemed to be considering for some time. At length he said:

'Perhaps I can help you to escape. You had better not say a word to any one. Would you come with me and leave the Chinese girl?'

'Oh no,' replied Nelly. 'Little Yi does not mind being here nearly so much as I do, but she does not want to stay, and I am afraid they would never take her home without me. I wish An Ching could come with us.'

'Who is An Ching?'

'She is Hung Li's wife,' Nelly replied, 'and is very kind to me. Hung Li and Ku Nai-nai don't care for her. They make fun of her and call her stupid, but she isn't, although Little Yi can cook and help with the work better than she can. Her feet are very small, so of course she can't run about much. She is pretty, too. Her skin is almost white, and she can embroider beautifully, and I want her to come and be my maid and learn English. Mayn't I tell her about you? Little Yi might let it out, but I don't think An Ching would.'

'No,' said the man. 'Tell no one yet. I will talk to my family about it, but I don't think we can take An Ching. She belongs to Hung Li, but you don't. I will come again to-morrow or the next day when you are alone.

Look here,' he continued, thrusting his right hand up his left sleeve and producing some red paper, which he threw down; 'pick this up quickly and hide it.'

Nelly did so at once, thrusting the precious paper into her sleeve.

'When you are alone,' he continued, 'tear off a bit of paper and throw it over the wall. If any one comes, and you hear me on the ladder, begin to talk loudly, and I shall keep away. Could you be here to-morrow morning while the women are brushing their hair?'

'Oh yes,' replied Nelly, delighted. 'I could easily come. Little Yi likes to watch the hairdressing, and I don't. I am often here alone then.'

'Very well, expect me to-morrow morning. I will go now.'

'Stop,' said Nelly. 'How is it that you can sing that hymn? Are you sure you can?'

The man smiled, and in a low voice began:

Lao-lu kun-fa fu chung tan ti Hsin li chiao ku-nan Yu i wei k'ai en-tien ch'ing ni Te p'ing-an.

As he went on Nelly opened her eyes and mouth wider and wider, so surprised was she.

'Why,' she exclaimed, when he stopped, 'I don't know it in Chinese,' and she was too puzzled to say more.

'The hymn has been translated by a missionary,' the man said. 'I am a Christian. See you again.'

And he bowed and bobbed down out of sight, leaving Nelly in the middle of the court, too astonished to move.