mystery of the leaves and of the stones, in the depths
of all the small, black holes of rocks or walls; it seemed like chivies
in miniature, or rather, a sort of frail concert somewhat mocking--oh!
not very mocking, and without any maliciousness--led timidly by
inoffensive gnomes. And this made the night more living and more
loving--

After the intoxicated audacities of the first nights, fright took a
stronger hold of them, and, when one of them had something special to
say, one led the other by the hand without talking; this meant that they
had to walk softly, softly, like marauding cats, to an alley behind the
house where they could talk without fear.

"Where shall we live, Gracieuse?" asked Ramuntcho one night.

"At your house, I had thought."

"Ah! yes, so thought I--only I thought it would make you sad to be so
far from the parish, from the church and the square--"

"Oh--with you, I could find anything sad?--"

"Then, we would send away those who live on the first floor and take the
large room which opens on the road to Hasparitz--"

It was an increased joy for him to know that Gracieuse would accept his
house, to be sure that she would bring the radiance of her presence into
that old, beloved home, and that they would make their nest there for
life--

CHAPTER XIX.

Here come the long, pale twilights of June, somewhat veiled like those
of May, less uncertain, however, and more tepid still. In the gardens,
the rose-laurel which is beginning to bloom in profusion is becoming
already magnificently pink. At the end of each work day, the good folks
sit outside, in front of their doors, to look at the night falling--the
night which soon confuses, under the vaults of the plane-trees, their
groups assembled for benevolent rest. And a tranquil melancholy descends
over villages, in those interminable evenings--

For Ramuntcho, this is the epoch when smuggling becomes a trade almost
without trouble, with charming hours, marching toward summits through
spring clouds; crossing ravines, wandering in lands of springs and of
wild fig-trees; sleeping, waiting for the agreed hour, with carbineers
who are accomplices, on carpets of mint and pinks.--The good odor of
plants impregnated his clothes, his waistcoat which he never wore, but
used as a pillow or a blanket--and Gracieuse would say to him at night:
"I know where you went last night, for you smell of mint of the mountain
above Mendizpi"--or: "You smell of absint