Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-23
BEBEE,,
TWO LITTLE WOODEN SHOES.

He painted, not glancing once elsewhere than at his study Bebees baskets were quite empty She rose, and fingered, and regarded him wistfuGy. be angered. perhaps she had been rus3et Her little heart failed her If he would only look up,
 But hn did not look up. he kept his hand some dark face studiously over the canvas of the Bro,ihuis Sine would have seen smile in bis eyes if ne had lifted them. but he never raised his lids.
 Bebee hestated take the stockings she would not, but perhaps she had refused him | too roughly She wished so that he would | look up and save her speaking first. but he knew what he was about too wsrily and well | to help her thus
 She waited awhile, then took one little red | moss rose bud that she had saved all day | in q corner of her basket, and held it out to hlm frankly, shyly, as a peace offering
 Was rudes did not mean to be, but | cannot take the stockings, and why did you tell me that fasehoodf He took the rose bud and rose too and smiled but he did not meet her eyes.
 Let us forget the whole matter. it is not worth a sou. If you do not take the box leave it, it is of no use to me" l "I cannot take it.
 She knew she was doing right. How was | 1t that he could make her feel though she were acting wronglys | "leave it. then. 1 say You are" not the | first woman my dear, who has quarreed with wish fulfilled It is a way your sex has of rr~ariing gods and men Here, you old witch-here is treasure trove for you You can sell it for ten francs in the town | anywhere
 As he spoke he tossed the casket and the stockings in it to an old decrepit woman, who was passing by with bakers cart drawn by a dog. and, not staying to heed her astonshrnent gathered his colors and | easel together
 The tears swam in Bebee's eyes as she saw the box whired through the air
 She bad done right-she was sure she had done right.
 He was a stranger, and she could never have repaid him. but he made ter feel her self wayward and ungrateful, and it was hard to see the beautiful fairy gift borne away forever by the chuckling. hobbling, greedy old bakers woman. If he had only taken it himself she would have been glad then to have been brave and to have done her duty
 But it was not in his design that she should be glad
 He saw her tears, but he seemed not to see them.
 Good night. Behee," he said. carelessly, as he sauntered aside from her Good night my dear Tomorrow will finish my painting. but will not offend you by any more gifts"
 Bebe,< lifted her dropped head and looked him in the eyes eagerly, with a certain sturdy resolve and tmid wistfulness ntermingled in her look.
 "Sir-see, you speak to me quite wrongly" she said with quick accent, that had pride as we'll as pain in it Say 1t was kind to bring me what l wished for-yes, it was kind l know. but you never saw me till last night, and cannot tell even your name. and , it is very wrong to lie to any one, even to a little thin, like me. and l only Bebee and cannot give you anything back, because 1 have only just enough to feed myself and the starling, and not always that in winter thank you very much for what you wish te do. but if 1 had taken those things l think you would have thought me very mean, ant full of greed. and Antoine always said. Dc not take what you cannot pay not ever wha you cannot pay-that IS the way to wall with pure feet, Perhaps spoke ill, becaus' - they spoil ne and they say 1 a.u too swift tt say my mind But l am not thankless-no thankess, indeed-it is only could not tak what 1 cannot pay That is all You arr angry stili-not now--uo!"
 There was anxiety in the pleading. Wha did it matter to her what q stranger thought
 And yet Bebee'S heart was heavy as h laughed little coidly, and bade her goo' day, and left her alone to go cut of the cit, homewards 4 sense of having done w-ron weighed on her, of having been rude and un grateful
 She had no heart for the children tha evening Mere krebs was sitting out befor her door sheling peas. and called to her come in and have n drop of coffee. Kreb had come in from Vilvoorole fair and brough a stock of rare good berries with hiIn. Bu Bebee thanked her and went to her ow garden to work.
 She had always liked to sit out on the quaiI wooden steps of the mill and under the re shadow of the sails, watching the swallow futter to and fro in the sunset and hearin the droll frogs croak in the rushes, while th old people told her tales of the time of how their babyhocd they had run out, fearful ys fascinated. to the beautiful Scots Gray Hash by in the murky night and the endle line of guns and caissons crawl back as snake through the summer dust and u trampled corn, going out past the woods : Waterloo
 But tonight she had no fancy for it; sl wanted to be alone with the flowers
 Though, to be sure, they had been yer heartless when Antoine's coffin had gone pa them, still they had sympathy. the daisi ,. smiled at her with their golden eyes and tt roses dropped tears on her hand, just h' mood might be- the flowers were clos friends after all than any human souls, ar besides she could say so much to theml s Flowers belong to fairy land. the Howe and the birds, and the butterflies, are all th the world has kept its Golden Age, the on perfectly beautiful things on earth, joyou innocent, half divine. useless, say they wi are wiser than God Y. Bebee went home and worked among h ' flowers
 A little laborious figure, with her petticoa twisted high, and her feet wet with the nig dews, and her back bowed to the hoeing al clipping and raking among the blossomir plants
 How late you are working tonight, B ~ beel" one two called out as they pass o' the gate. She looked up and smiled. b
 went on working while the white moon ros
 She did not know what ailed her
 She went to bed without supper leavh
 her bit of bread and bowl of goats milk e make n meal for the fowls in the morning