Bebee

t year," thought Bébée, locking her shoes with her other treasures in her drawe

next to nothing at all; for there are so many women in Brabant, and every one of them, young or old, can make lace, and if one do not like the pitiful wage, one may leave it and go and die, f

t Bébée, as she swept the dust together. It was so selfish of her to be dreaming about

the pressure of leather,-and resigned her day-dream with a brave heart, as she put up her broom and wen

th true philosophy as she worked among the black, fresh, sweet-s

ft upside down in case rain should fall in the night, was set ready for her, and

glanced around, but no one had come there so early as she, except the tinker, who was b

as set upon her chair?"-Bébée pondered a m

ir of silk stockings!-real silk!-with the pr

wife, who alone was near, having just wished Heaven to send a judgment on her husband, was busy putting

filled g

he multitudinous tones of the chiming bells. Bébée's business began too;

ever set a rush-bottomed chair on its legs be

ng. She sold little, and the

ter noon a voice

ore moss-ro

nion of the cathedral. She had thought much of the red shoes a

ranc; he would not alarm her with any more gold; she thanked him, and sli

emember me?" he said,

er frank eyes. "But you know I speak to so

was softly and insidiously

ld Annémie by the wharfside-and Tambour-and Antoine's grav

suppose?-though they

d at him

und a box, and some stockings-such beautifu

uld have forgotten you s

ose ladies are going to buy. But y

and paint t

do that; you are

in a

d them. He was very many years older than she; handsome, with a dark, and changeful, and listless face; he wore

times in the hour, glanced at him now and then, and watch

ing to her; she went through them as through a field of standing corn,-only in th

the innocent fearlessness of a child. When they told her she was pre

huis growing into color and form beneath them, she could not ch

on in rapid bold strokes the quaint graces

courtesy; he is rough and rude; he remains a peasant even when town bred, and the surly insolence of the "Gueux" is in him still. He is

round the painter, staring, chattering, pushing, pointing, a

eople, got up from her

look at in the galleries? and have you never some better thing to do than to gape wide-mouthed at a stranger? What laziness-ah! Just worthy of a people who sleep and smoke w

shuffled unwillingly aside and let him paint on in peace. It was only little B

nd color, and he had the skill of a master. But he spent more than half the time looking idly at the humors o

shes tossed out on the board, he talked to her, and, with the soft imperceptible ski

heltered the flowers from the sun, she answered him willingly, a

e the fairies?" she aske

; but her fairies were ethereal divinities. She could sc

a belief in fairies at all, why should there be any limit to

d Bébée, t

th the fairies in an intricacy that would have

gs, will you not? Only, believe me, yo

nd took another peep in

a certain perplexity. Su

you put t

-ne

u quite

but wh

it a little away,-"because I would not take it if you did. You

e Varnhart children, or your old

s that they save for and make with such a difficulty are just things that are a pleasure; sacrifices; like your si

hy should you not take any one else's

could not

d you

t was so strange, and yet had so much light i

ot get francs enough to buy anything worth giving back; and I should be so unhappy

as crystal, questioned him so innocently. "Well, if I did?" he said, frankly; "you w

he was sorry to lose the beautiful bo

I could not take them, because Antoine would not let me if he were alive; and if I gave you a flower every day all the year round I should not pay y

the selling of her bouquets. Her voice shook a little as s

hy had she ever seen them, a

vy. For the first tim

to frown betwee

ainted on and did

shadows grew very long. He painted, not glancing once else

wistfully: he was angered; perhaps she ha

uld only

y over the canvas of the Broodhuis. She would have seen a smile

ed them too roughly. She wished so that he would look up and save her speaki

that she had saved all day in a corner of her basket, a

ut I cannot take the stockings; and

ose too, and smiled; but

not worth a sou. If you do not take the

not ta

was it that he could make her feel

wish fulfilled. It is a way your sex has of rewarding gods and men.-Here, you old witch

it woman, who was passing by with a baker's cart drawn by a dog; and, not

s eyes as she saw the bo

t; she was sure s

it was hard to see the beautiful fairy gift borne away forever by the chuckling, hobbling, greedy old baker's w

his design that

, but he seemed

ide from her. "Good night, my dear. To-morrow I will finish

the eyes eagerly, with a certain sturdy resolve

; and I am only Bébée, and cannot give you anything back, because I have only just enough to feed myself and the starling, and not always that in winter. I thank you very much for what you wished to do; but if I had taken those things, I think you would have thought me very mean and full of greed; and Antoine always said, 'D

eading. What did it matter t

her good day, and left her alone to go out of the city homewards. A sens

, and called to her to come in and have a drop of coffee. Krebs had come in from Vilv?orde fair, and bro

e droll frogs croak in the rushes, while the old people told her tales of the time of how in their babyhood they had run out, fearful yet fascinated, to see the beautiful Scots Gra

ncy for it: she wanted to

; the daisies smiled at her with their golden eyes, and the roses dropped tears on her hand, just as her mood migh

l that the world has kept of its Golden Age; the only perfectly beautiful things

and worked amo

and her feet wet with the night dews, and her back bowed to t

called out, as they passed the gate. She looked up an

t know wha

er bit of bread and bowl of goat's milk t

oking at them in the moonlight. They were very pretty feet, and would not have been half so pretty

d hang down in the wind. The little lattice was open; the sweet and dusky garden was beyond; there wa

ce she saw

; the gray stones, with the fallen rose leaves and crushed fruits;

been ung

her was troubled and oppressed. F