who spied An Ching
coming, suddenly began to sing most vigorously. Chang broke off and
vanished, leaving Nelly standing in the middle of the court foolishly
looking at the wall.

'Whatever is the matter?' An Ching asked when she had hobbled into the
court. 'What are you looking at?'

'Nothing,' said Nelly; 'at least he's gone now.'

'Who? What do you mean?' exclaimed An Ching.

'The Christian--I mean Chang.'

An Ching was more and more puzzled, and looked at Nelly in wonder.

At length Nelly said, 'Come and sit down and I'll tell you all about
it.'

They both sat down on the bench near the wall, and Nelly told her tale
to the astonished An Ching, or rather she half told it, for just as she
was in the middle of it Ku Nai-nai came shouting for that lazy An Ching
to come indoors.

You may be sure that An Ching made haste to finish up her work after
they had all eaten their mid-day meal. She and Nelly got out to the
court alone, and Nelly was able to finish the exciting story. An Ching
was too surprised to offer any advice. She agreed, however, that Little
Yi must know at once, and when that young lady joined them she was told
the wonderful news of the man in the next compound who was willing to
help them to get away.

Little Yi was quite as enthusiastic about it as was possible to a
Chinese girl. She wanted Nelly to throw over some red paper at once to
call Chang, but An Ching said that as Ku Nai-nai had already been
smoking and dozing some time, she might call them at any moment, so it
was decided that they should wait until next day, and throw over the
paper as soon as ever Ku Nai-nai was comfortably settled on the kang
with her pipe.

Poor An Ching! she hated the thought of being left behind, and was
dreadfully disappointed when she heard that Chang had said he could not
take her; but she promised to do nothing to hinder their flight in any
case. There was one thing she did not want to do, though, and that was
to talk to Chang over the wall unless his wife were there. 'You must see
him first, Nelly,' she said, 'and tell him to send up his wife to talk
to me, or else get two ladders. It would not be at all proper for me to
speak to a strange man alone. Respectable Chinese young women never do
that.' Nelly saw no objection, though she thought An Ching was foolish,
and it was decided that she and Little Yi should receive Chang next day.

CHAPTER X

PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT

If Ku Nai-nai had been