midnight
With her instinct of a mother 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 .