4 DOG OF FLANDERS. 79

house. Little Alois, indeed, was the
richest child inthe hamlet. She had
neither brother nor sister; her blue
serge dress had never a hole in it; at
kermesse she had as many gilded
nuts and Agni Dei in sugar as her
hands could hold; and when she went
up for her first communion her flaxen
curls were covered with a cap of rich-
est Mechlin lace, which had been her
mother’s and her grandmother’s be-
fore it came to her. Men _ spoke
already, though she had but twelve
years, of the good wife she would be
for their sons to woo and win; but
she herself was a little gay, simple
child, in nowise conscious of her
heritage, and she loved no _play-
fellows so well as Jehan Daas’ grand-
son and his dog.