THE RAG MARKET AT BRUGES.

were carried in a pack on her back, a priest hurrying by in floating black robes,
a fresh-faced English girl on her way to the fish market with her father. But
they did not watch there long. Suppose that English maiden, in her shady hat
and freshly washed cotton dress, had a liking for old lace? Suppose that she
should poke into some of those boxes and baskets before the pilgrims could over-
haul them? There was not a
moment to be lost. They
plunged in among the rags.

Pah! how they smelled!
Horrible visions of smallpox
and scarlet fever floated through
the pilgrims’ brains. Hercules
produced a little box of camphor
which she would have glued to
the tip of her nose, had that
been possible. Mrs. Jack snuffed
at her salts bottle. La Capable
picked up her petticoats with
one hand, and with the other
covered nose and mouth with
her handkerchief. The Inter-
preter alone was unmoved by
risk of infection or by evil smells. Gr anes “The Mather
She recklessly threw herself into i Braet
the forefront of the battle, un- “ AMONG THE GREAT WHITE WATER LILIES.”
daunted by danger or difficulty.

One of the most serious difficulties the pilgrims had to encounter was
caused by the well-beloved Hercules herself. As Hercules had not much expe-
rience of foreign countries, she had never gone through the miseries and joys of
bargaining. Marchander was. a new word in her vocabulary, and she was in-
clined to think her companions monsters of meanness when they positively
refused to give three times as much as an article was worth. On the way to
the Marché aux Chiffons the other pilgrims had been obliged to talk seriously
to Hercules, and entreat her not to ruin their bargains by a smiling assent to
pay four francs where they would give one and a half. She promised to mend
her ways. But promises are often broken.

The Interpreter and Capable, who had been in Bruges before, knew two sen-
tences of Flemish, which were aired on every possible occasion. “ How much
does it cost?” and “Too dear.” Armed with this magnificent stock of Flemish
the pilgrims felt themselves equal to any amount of bargaining. It is, however,
but fair to confess that they only understood a tenth part of the answers that
were made them.