somewhat savagely loving, she divined that the little girl was enamoured
enough not to fall out of love ever; she had seen this in her fifteen
year old black eyes, obstinate and grave under the golden nimbus of her
hair. Gracieuse marrying Ramuntcho for his charm alone, in spite of and
against maternal will!--The rancor and vindictiveness that lurked in the
mind of Franchita rejoiced suddenly at that great triumph over the pride
of Dolores.

Around the isolated house where, under the grand silence of midnight, she
decided alone her son's future, the spirit of the Basque ancestors
passed, sombre and jealous also, disdainful of the stranger, fearful of
impiety, of changes, of evolutions of races;--the spirit of the Basque
ancestors, the old immutable spirit which still maintains that people
with eyes turned toward the anterior ages; the mysterious antique spirit
by which the children are led to act as before them their fathers had
acted, at the side of the same mountains, in the same villages, around
the same belfries.--

The noise of steps now, in the dark, outside!--Someone walking softly in
sandals on the thickness of the plane-tree leaves strewing the
soil.--Then, a whistled appeal.--

What, already!--Already one o'clock in the morning!--

Quite resolved now, she opened the door to the chief smuggler with a
smile of greeting that the latter had never seen in her:

"Come in, Itchoua," she said, "warm yourself--while I go wake up my
son."