At the uncertain and somewhat icy dawn, he awoke in his little room in the inn, with a persistent1 impression of his joy on the day before, instead of the confused anguish2 which accompanied so often in him the progressive return of his thoughts. Outside, were sounds of bells of cattle starting for the pastures, of cows lowing to the rising sun, of church bells,—and already, against the wall of the large square, the sharp snap of the Basque pelota: all the noises of a Pyrenean village beginning again its customary life for another day. And all this seemed to Ramuntcho the early music of a day's festival.
At an early hour, they returned, Arrochkoa and he, to their little wagon3, and, crushing their caps against the wind, started their horse at a gallop4 on the roads, powdered with white frost.
At Etchezar, where they arrived at noon, one would have thought it was summer,—so beautiful was the sun.
In the little garden in front of her house, Gracieuse sat on a stone bench:
“I have spoken to Arrochkoa!” said Ramuntcho to her, with a happy smile, as soon as they were alone—“And he is entirely5 with us, you know!”
“Oh! that,” replied the little girl, without losing the sadly pensive6 air which she had that morning, “oh, that!—my brother Arrochkoa, I suspected it, it was sure! A pelota player like you, you should know, was made to please him, in his mind there is nothing superior to that—”
“But your mother, Gatchutcha, for several days has acted much better to me, I think—For example, Sunday, you remember, when I asked you to dance—”
“Oh! don't trust to that, my Ramuntcho! you mean day before yesterday, after the high mass?—It was because she had just talked with the Mother Superior, have you not noticed?—And the Mother Superior had insisted that I should not dance with you on the square; then, only to be contrary, you understand—But, don't rely on that, no—”
“Oh!” replied Ramuntcho, whose joy had already gone, “it is true that they are not very friendly—”
“Friendly, mama and the Mother Superior?—Like a dog and a cat, yes!—Since there was talk of my going into the convent, do you not remember that story?”
He remembered very well, on the contrary, and it frightened him still. The smiling and mysterious black nuns7 had tried once to attract to the peace of their houses that little blonde head, exalted8 and willful, possessed9 by an immense necessity to love and to be loved—
“Gatchutcha! you are always at the sisters', or with them; why so often? explain this to me: they are very agreeable to you?”
“The sisters? no, my Ramuntcho, especially those of the present time, who are new in the country and whom I hardly know—for they change them often, you know—The sisters, no—I will even tell you that I am like mama about the Mother Superior. I cannot endure her—”
“Well, then, what?—”
“No, but what will you? I like their songs, their chapels10, their houses, everything—I cannot explain that to you—Anyway, boys do not understand anything—”
The little smile with which she said this was at once extinguished, changed into a contemplative expression or an absent expression, which Ramuntcho had often seen in her. She looked attentively11 in front of her, although there were on the road only the leafless trees, the brown mass of the crushing mountain; but it seemed as if Gracieuse was enraptured12 in melancholy13 ecstasy14 by things perceived beyond them, by things which the eyes of Ramuntcho could not distinguish—And during their silence the angelus of noon began to ring, throwing more peace on the tranquil15 village which was warming itself in the winter sun; then, bending their heads, they made naively16 together their sign of the cross—
Then, when ceased to vibrate the holy bell, which in the Basque villages interrupts life as in the Orient the song of the muezzins, Ramuntcho decided17 to say:
“It frightens me, Gatchutcha, to see you in their company always—I cannot but ask myself what ideas are in your head—”
Fixing on him the profound blackness of her eyes, she replied, in a tone of soft reproach:
“It is you talking to me in that way, after what we have said to each other Sunday night!—If I were to lose you, yes then, perhaps—surely, even!—But until then, oh! no—oh! you may rest in peace, my Ramuntcho—”
He bore for a long time her look, which little by little brought back to him entire delicious confidence, and at last he smiled with a childish smile:
“Forgive me,” he asked—“I say silly things often, you know!—”
“That, at least, is the truth!”
Then, one heard the sound of their laughter, which in two different intonations18 had the same freshness and the same youthfulness. Ramuntcho, with an habitual19 brusque and graceful20 gesture, changed his waistcoat from one shoulder to the other, pulled his cap on the side, and, with no other farewell than a sign of the head, they separated, for Dolores was coming from the end of the road.
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1
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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2
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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3
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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4
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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5
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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6
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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7
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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8
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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9
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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10
chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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11
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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12
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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14
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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15
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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16
naively
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| adv. 天真地 | |
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17
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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18
intonations
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| n.语调，说话的抑扬顿挫( intonation的名词复数 )；（演奏或唱歌中的）音准 | |
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19
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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20
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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