er father promised, 'but I am afraid it
cannot be managed.'

'It can be done easily enough if you will buy her, Sir,' said Little Yi.
'Hung Li does not like her, and he loves money.'

This was a new idea to Mr. Grey. He thought he might be able to arrange
it after all. 'We will go and see them and talk about it,' he said.

The courtyard of the inn was in a state of great confusion when Mr. Grey
and the children entered it. Hung Li was raging and fuming in a dreadful
way, while An Ching stood by with a frightened face. The two Changs were
trying to explain things to the Legation student who had come with Mr.
Grey from Peking to go with him to Yung Ching in search of Nelly. They
had started as soon as Nelly's letter reached the Legation. This young
gentleman, who had been in China only a short time, understood very
little Chinese, and Chang and Chi Fu were trying to talk to him by
signs. It was funny to see them pointing to the wall, a basket, red
paper and a rope. The poor student was hopelessly muddled, but the
Chinese grooms who had come with him and Mr. Grey quite understood and
were enjoying themselves thoroughly. The inn-keeper was shouting
directions to every one, and his wife trying to question An Ching, who
was in a terrible fright. A crowd of villagers began to collect, and
every one was talking at once.

Leaving the children in charge of his companion, Mr. Grey pushed his way
into the midst of the throng, shouting at the top of his voice:

'Where's the man who stole my daughter?'

The noise stopped at once. A dozen pair of hands seized Hung Li and An
Ching and brought them face to face with Mr. Grey, while the crowd
closed eagerly round.

Hung Li was dreadfully afraid. He had counted on the children being
handed over by his friend the barber in exchange for a nice round sum of
money, and had never thought the affair would bring him within arm's
length of a fierce foreigner.

'Why did you do this?' asked Mr. Grey sternly.

'I did not,' said the coward. 'It was my mother who stole the child and
hid her from me. I was taking her back to Peking.'

'Very well,' said Mr. Grey, 'I must hand you over to the magistrate.'

This was quite enough for Hung Li, who knew that if he were once inside
a Chinese prison he might have to stay there a very long time.

'Don't tell me any lies,' Mr. Grey continued. 'You kept my daughter shut
up in your house, and she might have died if it had not been for your
wife.'