There was only one thing that made Patrasche uneasy.
It was this:
Nello often left Patrasche alone in the street.
Antwerp, as all the world knows, is full of old churches.
Nello loved to visit them.
Antwerp's churches are jammed in everywhere, in almost every alley and street.
Its churches are quiet, grand, old places of the past.
They are dark, ancient, and beautiful.
Many of the churches contain the art of Antwerp's most beloved citizen: the great painter Peter Paul Rubens.
Rubens was born in Flanders in 1577 and grew up in Antwerp.
By the age of twenty-one, he was already an excellent painter.
Rubens left Antwerp and, like other great painters of the time, he went to Italy.
In Italy, he worked as a court painter and painted altars of churches in Rome.
His works are famous for their color, their light, and their feeling of energy.
In 1608, Rubens returned to Antwerp, where he continued to paint for many years.
His paintings have religious themes and decorate its many ancient churches.
In one of Antwerp's churches lies Rubens' tomb.
Without Rubens, what is Antwerp?
Merely a dirty, bustling market city.
But because Rubens lived and worked there, Antwerp is sacred.
Both worshippers of God and lovers of art honor its soil.
Some afternoons, after Nello and Patrasche finished delivering the milk, Nello would stop outside a church.
He would tell Patrasche to wait outside while he went in.
Most often, he visited Antwerp's great cathedral.
Once or twice, Patrasche tried to follow.
He stepped through the cathedral's large gate, pulling his milk-cart behind, but a guard always sent him back.
He waited on the street stones outside the iron gate and watched the people go by.
"What does Nello do inside?" wondered Patrasche.
"Sometimes he is inside for more than one hour!"
Patrasche worried whenever Nello disappeared inside a church or went into the cathedral.
Patrasche wasn't bothered just because Nello visited churches.
Patrasche knew it was normal for people to go to church.
After all, the farmers in their village went to the small gray church opposite the red windmill.
Patrasche was worried because Nello always looked pale, when he came out.
Nello was usually a talkative boy.
But whenever he visited the cathedral, he would stay silent for hours after.
If Nello visited the cathedral, when they returned home he never wanted to play.
Instead, he would sit and gaze at the evening skies.
Patrasche thought the little boy should not be so serious.
But Nello kept visiting the cathedral and the churches.
Patrasche could do nothing except wait in the street.
He stretched himself out on the stones, yawned, and sighed.
When Nello came out of the cathedral, he always hugged Patrasche and kissed his forehead.
In a soft voice, he would murmur, "If I could only see them, Patrasche!"
"See what?" wondered Patrasche.