table, before the table where he presided, the old man, with his
wrinkled hand, washed it all away with his benediction!"

But Mirèio and not Mèste Ambroi makes known to her father that it is her
hand Vincèn seeks, and the mother and father break out in anger against
the maid. Ramoun's anger leads him to speak offensively to Mèste Ambroi,
who nobly maintains his dignity amid his poverty, and recounts his
services to his country that have been so ill repaid. Ramoun is equally
proud of his wealth, earned by the sweat of his brow, and sternly
refuses. The other leaves, and then the harvesters continue their
merry-making, with singing and farandoles, about a great bonfire in
honor of Saint John. "All the hills were aglow as if stars had rained in
the darkness, and the mad wind carried up the incense of the hills and
the red gleam of the fires toward the saint, hovering in the blue
twilight."

That night Mirèio grieved and wept for Vincèn, and, remembering what he
had told her of the three Saint Maries, rises before the dawn and flees
away. Her journey across the Crau and the island of Camargue is narrated
with numerous details and descriptions; they are never extraneous to the
action, and are a constant source of beauty and interest. The strange,
barren plain of the Crau, covered with the stones that once destroyed a
race of Giants, as the legend has it, is vividly described, as the
maiden flies across it in the ardent rays of the June sun. She stops to
pray to a saint that he send her a draught of water, and immediately she
comes upon a well. Here she meets a little Arlesian boy who tells her
"in his golden speech" of the glories of Arles. "But," says the poet,
"O soft, dark city, the child forgot to tell thy supreme wonder; O
fertile land of Arles, Heaven gives pure beauty to thy daughters, as it
gives grapes to the autumn, and perfumes to the mountains and wings to