BIBLIOTHEQUE DES CHEFS-D'OEUVRE DU ROMAN CONTEMPORAIN
_KING OF CAMARGUE_
JEAN AICARD
PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY BY GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, PHILADELPHIA
COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY GEORGE BARRIE & SON
THIS EDITION OF
KING OF CAMARGUE
HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TRANSLATED BY
GEORGE B. IVES
THE ETCHINGS ARE BY
LOUIS V. RUET
AND DRAWINGS BY
GEORGE ROUX
CHEFS-D'OEUVRE DU ROMAN CONTEMPORAIN
ROMANCISTS
THIS EDITION
DEDICATED TO THE HONOR OF THE
ACADEMIE FRANCAISE
IS LIMITED TO ONE THOUSAND NUMBERED AND REGISTERED SETS, OF WHICH THIS IS
NUMBER 358
THE ROMANCISTS
JEAN AICARD
KING OF CAMARGUE
[Illustration: Chapter VI
_This woman had a way of looking at people that disconcerted them. You would say that a sharp, threatening flame shot from her eyes. It penetrated your being, searched your heart, and you were powerless against it._]
TO EMILE TRELAT
My Very Dear Friend:
Permit me to dedicate this book to you, whose incomparable friendship has been to the poet, obstinate in his idealism, of hourly assistance, a constant proof of the reality of true generosity and kindness of heart.
Jean Aicard.
_La Garde, near Toulon, April 11, 1890._
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: King of Camargue by Jean Aicard
- 2: Gave a little shriek of terror
- 3: Livette turned hastily toward the cupboard
- 4: Livette hastily crossed herself
- 5: And her eyes came back to the gipsy queen
- 6: In this Camargue everything is strange
- 7: Whose heart would be made glad by a single sou
- 8: Of Camargue bulls and mares live at liberty in the vast moor
- 9: The drovers drive their manades toward the river
- 10: A common performance of the drover
- 11: One of the most fearless drovers in Camargue
- 12: The seden is generally black and white
- 13: Livette jumped down from her horse
- 14: Livette wore her morning head dress
- 15: And Livette must needs hold tight to the drover's waist
- 16: That which Renaud felt for Livette was a soothing emotion
- 17: At the familiar tone assumed by others with Livette
- 18: Arrived at the bank of the Rhone
- 19: The grandmother would be calling from the doorway Livette
- 20: If any one had sought to wrest Jacques from Livette
- 21: Had insisted that Renaud should take Blanchet
- 22: Renaud was thinking of Livette
- 23: Renaud was looking for the high
- 24: As he remembered how the woman had threatened Livette
- 25: Was she not holding them now in her clenched fists
- 26: He was especially alarmed for Livette
- 27: Renaud gazed at her an instant longer
- 28: And thus attack him with that same nudity
- 29: You can take him back for Livette
- 30: Livette will give you what you need
- 31: As Livette uttered that reproach
- 32: IXTHE PRAYER Livette opened the farm house door
- 33: Which had sometimes been about her waist as now
- 34: Renaud and Livette reached an apartment with bare
- 35: Livette and Renaud loved each other
- 36: To the silent twinkling of the stars
- 37: His heart did not tell him that Livette
- 38: Regained his feet after two fruitless slides
- 39: Renaud mounted Blanchet once more
- 40: Here a stallion drew near a mare
- 41: And thirty or forty kilometres had no terrors for Renaud
- 42: Is not Camargue the home of the lambrusque
- 43: A stony desert adjoining Camargue
- 44: At the foot of the scattered tamarisks
- 45: Renaud recognized them as muraenae
- 46: While Livette was weeping and Renaud
- 47: No she made no plans beforehand
- 48: It was not in her nature to be malignant
- 49: But Renaud no longer existed for Zinzara
- 50: Livette watched them floating quietly by
- 51: Every one went his own way Magdalen went to Baume
- 52: The reliquaries were raised again on that day
- 53: Motionless upon her horse Livette listened vaguely
- 54: For sure Here Rosine crossed herself
- 55: And holding out his hand to Livette
- 56: Instinct stretches like a bridge
- 57: The gipsies are skilled in the science of poisons
- 58: The gipsies had arranged their wagons side by side
- 59: Whom they held tightly between their knees as in a vise
- 60: Attracted by the notes of the flute and tambourine
- 61: Livette involuntarily shuddered
- 62: She had hoped to intimidate Livette
- 63: Renaud was already at a distance
- 64: XIVJOUSTING Both Renaud and Rampal had spears
- 65: Renaud darted away as if he had wings
- 66: The mother of the mistral the vast sunny plain
- 67: But praying fervently for Renaud
- 68: He recognized Blanchet from afar in among the mares
- 69: As agile as the Camargue partridge's red claws
- 70: And Marion nurses Monsieur le cure
- 71: At least five metres below the ogive arch of the nave
- 72: Marion ushered Livette into the parlor
- 73: Who signed himself 2000 Philippon
- 74: Rene at once consulted his confessor
- 75: At the corner of Rue de la Jussienne
- 76: Livette knew it only by the name of galejon
- 77: But Livette knew nothing of that
- 78: Is it possible that Renaud could
- 79: The mummy is of the same age as Livette
- 80: He saw that Livette was confronted by an ill defined
- 81: And so long as Livette knew nothing
- 82: My father Livette sometimes addressed the cure thus
- 83: Livette was dazzled by the glare
- 84: Livette instinctively noticed that the horse's dark shadow
- 85: Livette had heard nothing but the sharp
- 86: He found Bernard at the Menage
- 87: Mounted upon Prince and leading Blanchet
- 88: But what Audiffret could not understand
- 89: And winking involuntarily at Audiffret
- 90: Livette saw it and was grateful to him for it
- 91: To see the faces of the gipsies
- 92: So Livette was a little distraught
- 93: Livette sang Quand vous etiez sur la grande eau
- 94: Curious to see Livette singing
- 95: Are the sainted souls that have pity for mankind
- 96: Thus the sorceress's soul passed into Livette
- 97: And even Machicoulis obeyed at last
- 98: The arena was against the church
- 99: Livette had just come into the arena
- 100: Renaud seized him by the horns
- 101: And when he came to where Livette sat
- 102: Everybody was shouting Vive Renaud
- 103: Then the uproar becomes truly frightful
- 104: And all those who were standing on the dunes
- 105: When he saw Livette coming toward him with pale cheeks
- 106: He would sacrifice her to Livette
- 107: You resemble a zingaro who knows neither master nor God
- 108: The stupefied Renaud tried to regain his self control
- 109: Livette had lighted them for him
- 110: Zinzara and Renaud galloped away upon Livette's horse
- 111: Inhaling the saline air of the desert
- 112: She held Blanchet while he was drinking in the river
- 113: Renaud tied his horse to a tree
- 114: Renaud set his candle down on the stone
- 115: Renaud watched the familiar vision reappear
- 116: Which wore an expression of triumphant mockery
- 117: Renaud understood only one thing
- 118: Renaud started to go to find his horse
- 119: After doing what was necessary for Livette
- 120: As if he were once more sincere in his dealings with Livette
- 121: She had certainly seen Livette
- 122: Had it all been mere trickery and craft on her part
- 123: He had glanced proudly at the other drovers
- 124: Renaud was looking straight before him
- 125: Blanchet went forward mechanically
- 126: Thus Blanchet served his mistress still by his death
- 127: Let us go to the Icard farm at once
- 128: Livette felt that she was going mad
- 129: She will be eaten alive by the bloodsuckers
- 130: That ghastly vision recurred again and again to Livette
- 131: Renaud had not forgiven himself
- 132: His heart was filled with a great pity for Livette
- 133: Suddenly Livette sprang to her feet
- 134: He fancies that he sees Livette under his horse's feet
- 135: The mistral lashes his wings
- 136: In the deserts of Crau and Camargue
- 137: The last that was seen in Camargue