Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-25
BEBEE;;
 or, TWO LITTLE WOODEN SHOES.

nate an unknown quality. Where are you goingl Does your homo lie hereF'
 "Yes, onward, quito far onward" said Bebee, wondering that he had forgotten all she had told him tho day before about her hut, her garden, and her neighbors. You did not como and finish your picture today; why was that? I had a rosebud for you, but it is dead now"
 II went to Anvers. You looked for me a little, thenn
 ''Oh. all day long, for so afraid I had taen ungrateful."
 That is very pretty of you. Women are arc very ill treated. Mercury, whom we were talking of gave them, among other gifts, dogs heart"
 Bebee felt bewildered; she did not reason about it, but the idle, shallow, cynical tone pained her by its lcvity and its unlikeness to the sweet, still, gray summer evening.
 "Why are you in such q hurry~ he pur- sued The night is cool, and it is only o'clock. l will walk part of the way with you"
 "I am in a hurry because have Annemie's patterns to do," said Bebee, glad that he spoke of thing that she knew how to an swer. You see, Anneme's hand shakes, and her eyes are dim and she bricks the pattern dl uWTy anu HeNCT pSIcCiNCS lt, iI Wouiu break her heart if ono showed her so, but the Baes would not tako them as they are; they ore of no use at all. So prick them out myself on fresh paper, and the Baes thinks it is all her doing, and pays her the same money, and she Is quite content. And as l carry the patterns to and fro for her, be- cause she cannot walk, it is easy to cheat her like that, and it Is no harm to cheat so, you know" He was silent.
 You arc good little girl, Bebee, can sec, ," he said at last, with a graver sound in his voice And who is this Annemie for whom you do so much-an old woman, I sup poser
 "Oh, yes, quite old; incredibly old Her man was drowned at sea sixty years ago, and she watches for his brig still, night and morn ing"
 '.The dogs heart! No doubt he beat her, and had wifo in fifty other ports"
 "Oh, mo-" said Bebec, with a little cry, as though the word against the dead man hurt her "She has told mo so much of him. He so, and between the voyages they wero so happy. Surely that must have been sixty years now, and she is so sorry still, and still will not believe that he was drowned"
 He looked down on her with 0 smile that had certain pity ill it.
 Well, yes; there arc women like that, believe. But be very sure, my dear, he beat her. Of the two, ono always holds the whip and uses it-the other crouches."
 Il do not understand" said BaAee.
 ''No-but you will"
 II willl Wheng'
 Ho smiled again.
 "Oh-to-morrow, perhaps, or next year or when Fate fancies"
 "Or rather-when choose" he thought to himself, and let his eyes rest with q certain pleasure on the little feet, that went beside him ill the grass, and the pretty fair bosom that showed ever and asnin, as the frills of her linen bodice were blown back by the wind and her own quick motion
 Bcbec looked also up at him; he was very handsome, and looked SO 10 her, after the broad blunt characterless faces of the Walloon peasantry around her He walked with an easy grace he was clad in picture like vel vets he had a beautiful poetic head, and eyes like deep brown waters, and a face like one of Jordaen's or Rembrandt's cavaliers in the galleries where she used to steal in of Q Sun day, and look up at the paintings, and dream of what that world could be in which those people had lived.
 "You are of tho people of Rubes' country arc you notg" she asked him.
 "O1 what country, my deslr?
 ''Of the people that live in the gold frameS' said Bebeo quite seriously Tn the galleries you know I know charwo- man that scrubs the floors of the Arenberg palace, and she lets me in sometimes to look and you are just Gko those great gentlemen ill the gold frames, only you have not a hawk and Q sword, and they always have. used to wonder whero they came from, for they arc not like any of us one bit, and the char woman-shc is Lisa Dredel and lives in the street of the Pot d'Etain-always said, Dear heart, they all belong to Rubes' land-we never sec their like nowadays But you must come out of Rubes' land, at least, I think so, do you notf"
 Ho caught her meaning; ho knew that Rubes was tho homely abbreviation of Ru- bcns that all the Netherlanders used, and he guessed the idea that was reality to this little lonely, fanciful mind
 Perhaps do," he answered her with a smile, for it was not worth his while to dis abuse her thoughts of any imagination that gloriied him to her. Do you not want to sec Rubes' world, little onea To see the gold and the grandeur and the glitter of it all.- mover to toll or get tiredl-always to move in 0 pageant Aalways to live like the hawks in the paintings you talk of, with silver bells hung round you, and a hood all sewa with pearls"
 "No," said Bebee, simply. II should like to see it-just to sec it, as one looks through grating into the kings grape houses here But should not like to live in it. I love my hut and the starling, and the chickens, and what would the garden do without meAand tho children and the old Annemie. could not anyhow, anywhere be any happier than am. There is only one thing wish"
 oApd what is thatT
 "To know something; not to be so ignor. ant Just look! can read Q little, it is true my Hours, and the letters, and when Krebs brings in a newspaper can read a little of ii not much. I know French we'll because Antoine was French himself and never did talk Flemish to me; and they, being Neither landers, cannot, of course, read the news papers at all, and so think it very wonderful indeed in me But what want is to know things, to know all about what was before ever l was living St. Gudule, now-they say it was built hundreds of years before and Rubes, again-they say he was a painter king In Antwerpen before the oldest, oldest woman like Annemie ever began to count time am sure books will tell you all those things, because see the students coming and going with them; and when l saw once the millions of books in the Rue du Musee asked