64 A DOG OF FLANDERS.

ecstasy, before the altar-picture of the
Assumption, and when he noticed Pa-
trasche, and rose and drew the dog
gently out into the air, his face was
wet with tears, and he looked up at
the veiled places as he passed them,
and murmured to his companion, “It
is so terrible not to see them, Pa-
trasche, just because one is poor and
cannot pay! He never meant that
the poor should not see them when
he painted them, I. am sure. He
would have had us see them any
day, every day: that I am sure.
And they keep them shrouded
there — shrouded in the dark, the
beautiful things !— and they never
feel the light, and no eyes look
on them, unless rich people