ave been anticipated,
revealing to herself and others the extraordinary change of viewpoint
which had been silently working during weeks of apparently unchanged
opposition.

On returning from the fields one evening, Fan found his wife in an
unusual state of activity, whilst the three little girls who constituted
his family formed a tearful group on the _kang_. With characteristic
abruptness Mrs. Fan delivered the information: "I am preparing to go to
the city Opium Refuge." Scarcely able to credit her statement the
husband stood aghast, and she explained: "It is no good, the children
are taking it too."

A terrible statement, yet true, for whereas she knew that she had often
pacified the tiny baby's fretfulness by puffing a few whiffs of the
smoke into its mouth, she had that day made the discovery that, as soon
as she herself lay down to sleep off the effect of her dose, the two
elder girls would seize on the opium pipe and share all they could get
from it, so that already, unknown to herself, the craving was well
developed in them.

To the Refuge they must all go, and the next evening saw a cart at the
door into which were being stowed various bundles of clothing wrapped in
blue-and-yellow cloths, each bundle having attached to it a small piece
of scarlet cotton to ensure luck on the journey. Flour and millet for
food, and other necessaries were piled up behind the cart, and the
children were packed inside and told to keep quiet, for they were
leaving at night to avoid the jeers of the villagers. The father sat
upon the shafts, the mother cross-legged inside, and after an hour's
drive the city gates were sighted, and soon the party was welcomed at
the Mission House.

A very few days in the Refuge served to largely alter the tenor of Mrs.
Fan's mind. The woman who took charge of her was a kind,
confidence-inspiring body, with nothing of the "foreign devil" about
her. She would hear no harm of the missionaries, and flatly denied that
children were enticed on to the premises to be done to death by foul
means, or that the foreigner's blue eye could see corpses in their
coffins, or that magic incantations were used by means of which all who
drank their tea must become their followers.

All these questions and many others relating to the personal character
of the strange beings were asked during the long night watches when
sleep evades the opium patient, and the nurse helps to while away the
dreary hours by satisfyin