They came in, six or eight of them, all women; trim, clean, plain Brabant
peasants, hard-working, kindly of nature, and shrewd in their own simple
matters; people who labored in the fields all the day long, or worked
themselves blind over the lace pillows in the city.
"You are too young to live alone, Bebee," said the first of them. "My old
mother shall come and keep house for you."
"Nay, better come and live with me, Bebee," said the second. "I will give
you bit and drop, and clothing, too, for the right to your plot of
ground."
"That is to cheat her," said the third. "Hark, here, Bebee: my sister,
who is a lone woman, as you know well, shall come and bide with you, and
ask you nothing--nothing at all--only you shall just give her a crust,
perhaps, and a few flowers to sell sometimes."
"No, no," said the fourth; "that will not do. You let me have the garden
and the hut, Bebee, and my sons shall till the place for you; and I will
live with you myself, and leave the boys the cabin, so you will have all
the gain, do you not see, dear little one?"
"Pooh!" said the fifth, stouter and better clothed than the rest.
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