may! the grass ascends, ascends from everywhere like a sumptuous carpet, like silky velvet, emanating spontaneously from the earth.
in order to sprinkle this region of the basques, which remains humid and green all summer like a sort of warmer brittany, the errant vapors on the bay of biscay assemble all in this depth of gulf, stop at the pyrenean summits and melt into rain. long showers fall, which are somewhat deceptive, but after which the soil smells of new flowers and hay.
in the fields, along the roads, the grasses quickly thicken; all the ledges of the paths are as if padded by the magnificent thickness of the bent grass; everywhere is a profusion of gigantic easter daisies, of buttercups with tall stems, and of very large, pink mallows like those of algeria.
and, in the long, tepid twilights, pale iris or blue ashes in color, every night the bells of the month of mary resound for a long time in the air, under the mass of the clouds hooked to the flanks of the mountains.
during the month of may, with the little group of black nuns, with discreet babble, with puerile and lifeless laughter, gracieuse, at all hours, went to church. hastening their steps under the frequent showers, they went together through the graveyard, full of roses; together, always together, the little clandestine betrothed, in light colored gowns, and the nuns, with long, mourning veils; during the day they brought bouquets of white flowers, daisies and sheafs of tall lilies; at night they came to sing, in the nave still more sonorous than in the day-time, the softly joyful canticles of the virgin mary:
“ave, queen of the angels! star of the sea, ave!—”
oh, the whiteness of the lilies lighted by the tapers, their white petals and their yellow pollen in gold dust! oh, their fragrance in the gardens or in the church, during the twilights of spring!
and as soon as gracieuse entered there, at night, in the dying ring of the bells—leaving the pale half-light of the graveyard full of roses for the starry night of the wax tapers which reigned already in the church, quitting the odor of hay and of roses for that of incense and of the tall, cut lilies, passing from the lukewarm and living air outside to that heavy and sepulchral cold that centuries amass in old sanctuaries—a particular calm came at once to her mind, a pacifying of all her desires, a renunciation of all her terrestrial joys. then, when she had knelt, when the first canticles had taken their flight under the vault, infinitely sonorous, little by little she fell into an ecstasy, a state of dreaming, a visionary state which confused, white apparitions traversed: whiteness, whiteness everywhere; lilies, thousands of sheafs of lilies, and white wings, shivers of white wings of angels—
oh! to remain for a long time in that state, to forget all things, and to feel herself pure, sanctified and immaculate, under that glance, ineffably fascinating and soft, under that glance, irresistibly appealing, which the holy virgin, in long white vestments, let fall from the height of the tabernacle—!
but, when she went outside, when the night of spring re-enveloped her with tepid breezes of life, the memory of the meeting which she had promised the day before, the day before as well as every day, chased like the wind of a storm the visions of the church. in the expectation of ramuntcho, in the expectation of the odor of his hair, of the touch of his mustache, of the taste of his lips, she felt near faltering, like one wounded, among the strange companions who accompanied her, among the peaceful and spectral black nuns.
and when the hour had come, in spite of all her resolutions she was there, anxious and ardent, listening to the least noise, her heart beating if a branch of the garden moved in the night—tortured by the least tardiness of the beloved one.
he came always with his same silent step of a rover at night, his waistcoat on his shoulder, with as much precaution and artifice as for the most dangerous act of smuggling.
in the rainy nights, so frequent in the basque spring-time, she remained in her room on the first floor, and he sat on the sill of the open window, not trying to go in, not having the permission to do so. and they stayed there, she inside, he outside, their arms laced, their heads touching each other, the cheek of one resting on the cheek of the other.
when the weather was beautiful, she jumped over this low window-sill to wait for him outside, and their long meetings, almost without words, occurred on the garden bench. between them there were not even those continual whisperings familiar to lovers; no, there were rather silences. at first they did not dare to talk, for fear of being discovered, for the least murmurs of voices at night are heard. and then, as nothing new threatened their lives, what need had they to talk? what could they have said which would have been better than the long contact of their joined hands and of their heads resting against each other?
the possibility of being surprised kept them often on the alert, in an anxiety which made more delicious afterward the moments when they forgot themselves more, their confidence having returned.—nobody frightened them as much as arrochkoa, a smart, nocturnal prowler himself, and always so well-informed about the goings and comings of ramuntcho—in spite of his indulgence, what would he do, if he discovered them?—
oh, the old stone benches, under branches, in front of the doors of isolated houses, when fall the lukewarm nights of spring!—theirs was a real lovers' hiding place, and there was for them, every night, a music, for, in all the stones of the neighbors' wall lived those singing tree-toads, beasts of the south, which, as soon as night fell, gave from moment to moment a little, brief note, discreet, odd, having the tone of a crystal bell and of a child's throat. something similar might be produced by touching here and there, without ever resting on them, the scales of an organ with a celestial voice. there were tree-toads everywhere, responding to one another in different tones; even those which were under their bench, close by them, reassured by their immobility, sang also from time to time; then that little sound, brusque and soft, so near, made them start and smile. all the exquisite, surrounding obscurity was animated by that music, which continued in the distance, in the 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—
