1896
PERSONS.
The New Little Nun .
Her Lover .
Many Dead Nuns; among them:
An Aged Nun .
A Nun of Forty .
An Elderly Nun .
A Young Nun .
Several living Nuns; among them:
The Abbess .
Midnight in the cloister of the Convent of the Sepolte-Vive — the Buried-Alive: a Romanesque quadrangle which is flooded with moonlight and planted thick with flat tombstones. Above one side of this enclosure rise the gable of the chapel and the loggia of the belfry. On the opposite side one divines the roofs of a sleeping city and half hears the murmur of the sea a hundred feet below. In the distance a mountain-peak burns and glows as if tipped with an enormous live coal and sends a thin veil of smoke down its own dark sides to wander far and wide along a sinuous shore.
( half hidden in the arched and pillared shade ).
Contains
13 words
in
2 sentences
using
65 chars
.
[The organ-notes from the chapel cease. The light in the window under the gable vanishes. The Nuns, with the Abbess at their head, issue from the chapel, cross the enclosure, and disperse among their cells. From the belfry there comes the stroke of twelve.]
Contains
118 words
in
7 sentences
using
629 chars
.
[The air begins to become strangely close and oppressive. The bats flit uneasily beneath the shadowed vaulting of the arcades.]
Contains
61 words
in
8 sentences
using
339 chars
.
[A distant sound, as if of iron at work on stone: a sound that is cautious, yet determined, energetic, even desperate. At the same time the tombstones grate uneasily upon their foundations.]
Contains
33 words
in
5 sentences
using
163 chars
.
[The distant sound seems nearer; it rings with a passionate and high-hearted energy. At the same time the gravestones shift and heave, as if about to lift and to disclose their secrets.]
Contains
25 words
in
3 sentences
using
118 chars
.
[The sound draws nearer still; it seems close to the dusky corner into which the New Nun has shrunk.]
Contains
14 words
in
2 sentences
using
62 chars
.
[The tombstones jar and labor, and the Dead Nuns , clad in conventual garb, rise from their graves. They congregate in the middle of the cloister.]
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
20 chars
.
Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
29 chars
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Contains
11 words
in
1 sentence
using
61 chars
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Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
21 chars
.
Contains
8 words
in
1 sentence
using
43 chars
.
Contains
1 word
in
1 sentence
using
7 chars
.
Contains
60 words
in
8 sentences
using
299 chars
.
Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
23 chars
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Contains
16 words
in
2 sentences
using
74 chars
.
Contains
10 words
in
2 sentences
using
45 chars
.
Contains
7 words
in
3 sentences
using
34 chars
.
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
13 chars
.
Contains
9 words
in
2 sentences
using
42 chars
.
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
15 chars
.
Contains
7 words
in
1 sentence
using
39 chars
.
Contains
9 words
in
1 sentence
using
44 chars
.
Contains
23 words
in
2 sentences
using
117 chars
.
( as the sound rings louder ).
Contains
19 words
in
3 sentences
using
92 chars
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Contains
12 words
in
2 sentences
using
62 chars
.
Contains
8 words
in
1 sentence
using
42 chars
.
Contains
2 words
in
1 sentence
using
7 chars
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Contains
10 words
in
1 sentence
using
44 chars
.
( humbly ).
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
11 chars
.
Contains
7 words
in
2 sentences
using
41 chars
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Contains
59 words
in
7 sentences
using
300 chars
.
Contains
68 words
in
7 sentences
using
324 chars
.
Contains
26 words
in
2 sentences
using
127 chars
.
Contains
27 words
in
2 sentences
using
139 chars
.
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
23 chars
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Contains
26 words
in
4 sentences
using
131 chars
.
Contains
22 words
in
2 sentences
using
118 chars
.
Contains
69 words
in
3 sentences
using
351 chars
.
Contains
12 words
in
2 sentences
using
63 chars
.
[The air becomes closer. The luster of the moon begins to dim.]
Contains
26 words
in
2 sentences
using
127 chars
.
Contains
1 word
in
1 sentence
using
11 chars
.
Contains
77 words
in
7 sentences
using
394 chars
.
Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
19 chars
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Contains
6 words
in
1 sentence
using
30 chars
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Contains
6 words
in
1 sentence
using
27 chars
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Contains
26 words
in
3 sentences
using
123 chars
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Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
19 chars
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Contains
25 words
in
4 sentences
using
116 chars
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Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
22 chars
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Contains
73 words
in
9 sentences
using
395 chars
.
Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
21 chars
.
Contains
1 word
in
1 sentence
using
4 chars
.
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
13 chars
.
Contains
9 words
in
2 sentences
using
41 chars
.
( passionately, to the Aged Nun ).
Contains
5 words
in
1 sentence
using
22 chars
.
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
17 chars
.
[The moon still dims. A sweeping flight of restless seabirds passes overhead. The work on the wall proceeds, unheeded by the Nuns.]
Contains
42 words
in
5 sentences
using
233 chars
.
Contains
18 words
in
2 sentences
using
88 chars
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Contains
14 words
in
1 sentence
using
64 chars
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Contains
10 words
in
1 sentence
using
43 chars
.
Contains
22 words
in
2 sentences
using
117 chars
.
Contains
28 words
in
3 sentences
using
144 chars
.
Contains
89 words
in
8 sentences
using
478 chars
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Contains
2 words
in
1 sentence
using
9 chars
.
( with vehemence ).
Contains
18 words
in
4 sentences
using
89 chars
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Contains
3 words
in
2 sentences
using
13 chars
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Contains
6 words
in
1 sentence
using
27 chars
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Contains
42 words
in
5 sentences
using
200 chars
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Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
16 chars
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Contains
2 words
in
1 sentence
using
11 chars
.
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
18 chars
.
Contains
10 words
in
2 sentences
using
53 chars
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Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
19 chars
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Contains
14 words
in
2 sentences
using
78 chars
.
Contains
1 word
in
1 sentence
using
4 chars
.
Contains
41 words
in
4 sentences
using
191 chars
.
Contains
1 word
in
1 sentence
using
4 chars
.
Contains
47 words
in
10 sentences
using
248 chars
.
( coldly ).
Contains
6 words
in
1 sentence
using
28 chars
.
Contains
29 words
in
5 sentences
using
131 chars
.
[The sound of a stone falling upon other stones. The air grows more and more oppressive. The peak of the mountain glows with a kindling anger and its trail of smoke moves on with a darker and wider reach. The earth seems to shiver.]
Contains
10 words
in
2 sentences
using
46 chars
.
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
21 chars
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Contains
31 words
in
4 sentences
using
145 chars
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Contains
13 words
in
3 sentences
using
60 chars
.
Contains
16 words
in
3 sentences
using
72 chars
.
[Another stone falls. The bats tumble about heedlessly in the murky moonlight. Half awakened land-birds flit hither and thither with wild cries of alarm. The convent belfry quivers from top to base, and its bells are rung — but not by human hands.]
Contains
28 words
in
3 sentences
using
140 chars
.
[The New Little Nun , with a cry of terror, starts from her corner and rushes out into the edge of the moonlight: a hand has been thrust through the gap in the wall and a voice has followed.]
Contains
2 words
in
2 sentences
using
15 chars
.
Contains
6 words
in
2 sentences
using
27 chars
.
[The Nuns advance toward her. It were vain to say (from her own terror and from the failing light) whether or no she hears them or sees them.]
Contains
21 words
in
3 sentences
using
99 chars
.
Contains
11 words
in
2 sentences
using
49 chars
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Contains
7 words
in
1 sentence
using
30 chars
.
( motioning ).
Contains
16 words
in
2 sentences
using
74 chars
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Contains
24 words
in
5 sentences
using
107 chars
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Contains
35 words
in
6 sentences
using
181 chars
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Contains
10 words
in
1 sentence
using
51 chars
.
Contains
31 words
in
6 sentences
using
148 chars
.
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
18 chars
.
Contains
19 words
in
4 sentences
using
87 chars
.
( advancing through the opening ).
Contains
10 words
in
2 sentences
using
47 chars
.
(waving him back).
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
19 chars
.
Contains
17 words
in
2 sentences
using
85 chars
.
Contains
8 words
in
2 sentences
using
37 chars
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Contains
11 words
in
2 sentences
using
47 chars
.
Contains
14 words
in
2 sentences
using
84 chars
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Contains
9 words
in
3 sentences
using
48 chars
.
Contains
9 words
in
2 sentences
using
55 chars
.
Contains
15 words
in
2 sentences
using
71 chars
.
Contains
3 words
in
1 sentence
using
22 chars
.
Contains
26 words
in
2 sentences
using
127 chars
.
Contains
11 words
in
1 sentence
using
56 chars
.
Contains
2 words
in
1 sentence
using
8 chars
.
Contains
22 words
in
4 sentences
using
111 chars
.
Contains
19 words
in
2 sentences
using
93 chars
.
[A thick dun cloud, illumined by intermittent flashes of volcanic fire, fills the cloister, and the lashings and groanings of a terrified sea come to them from below. The foundation-walls of the convent are all a-tremble, and the bells ring in an uncontrollable frenzy. The Nuns grope through the smoke and the darkness to seek retreat in their graves: not one can find her own.]
( to Bianca ).
Contains
8 words
in
1 sentence
using
36 chars
.
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
21 chars
.
Contains
9 words
in
1 sentence
using
43 chars
.
Contains
13 words
in
3 sentences
using
66 chars
.
( standing alone in the middle of the enclosure, whence she shouts with all her might, as she waves her garment with two wild arms ).
Contains
20 words
in
4 sentences
using
102 chars
.
Contains
2 words
in
1 sentence
using
17 chars
.
Contains
6 words
in
1 sentence
using
32 chars
.
[A violent shock of earthquake. The graves are completely upheaved and dismantled; the belfry totters; and the Abbess and her train fly screaming past the church-door just as the walls of the cloister are rent from top to bottom. Through the opening thus made one sees the toppling towers of the city and the confounded shipping of the port, and beneath the lifting smoke one views a score of burning villages upon the lava-swept mountain-side.]
( pointing to the cleft wall ).
Contains
4 words
in
1 sentence
using
19 chars
.
Angelo and Bianca pick their path through the wrecked and dismantled tombs, upon whose ruins the Dead Nuns lie wailing, affrighted and disconsolate.]
Contains
81 words
in
5 sentences
using
423 chars
.
[She treads a resolute way among the lamenting choir, and disappears in the pall of smoke as she follows Angelo and Bianca down the hillside.]