Gudule are hurt by the storm when it breaks.
Hard words, fierce passions, low thoughts, evil deeds, passed by the
child without resting on her; her heart was in her flowers, and was like
one of them with the dew of daybreak on it.
There were many strangers in the city, and such are always sure to loiter
in the Spanish square; and she sold fast and well her lilacs and her
roses, and her knots of thyme and sweetbrier.
She was always a little sorry to see them go, her kindly pretty playmates
that, nine times out of ten no doubt, only drooped and died in the hands
that purchased them, as human souls soil and shrivel in the grasp of the
passions that woo them.
The day was a busy one, and brought in good profit. Bebee had no less
than fifty sous in her leather pouch when it was over,--a sum of
magnitude in the green lane by Laeken.
A few of her moss-roses were still unsold, that was all, when the Ave
Maria began ringing over the town and the people dispersed to their homes
or their pleasuring.
It was a warm gray evening: the streets were full; there were blossoms in
all the balconies, and gay colors in all the dresses.
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