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Why the Chimes Rang: A Play in One Act by Elizabeth Apthorp McFadden
page 14 of 62 (22%)
STEEN. Yes, which?--Would there be a whale now to swallow a priest?

BERTEL. Thou goosey! This was no Bible miracle,--it happened there,
_there_, where we see the lights,--hundreds of years ago. (BERTEL
_has followed_ HOLGER _to the window and_ STEEN _joins them.
As he speaks_ BERTEL _slips his arms affectionately round both
children and the three stand looking out. At this moment something stirs
in the dim shadows that shroud the corner up above the fire-place.
Suddenly out of the dark the_ OLD WOMAN _emerges. A tall figure,
if she were not so bent, wrapped in a black cloak. There is nothing
grotesque or sinister in her appearance, she might have stood for a
statue of old age, impressive in its pathos. As she sits on the stool
near the fire she throws back the cloak disclosing the plain straight
dress of gray beneath. The light of the fire reveals her crouched,
swaying back and forth praying silently, her face still shaded by the
heavy hood of her cloak. The others gazing intently out at the church
do not see her._ BERTEL _continues speaking_) Surely thou hast
heard of the Miracle of the Chimes?

HOLGER. I've heard folks speak of it,--but I never knew just what
happened.

STEEN. Oh, tell us, Uncle Bertel.

BERTEL. Aye, listen then!--You see the great tower there?--(_Both
children nod emphatically_) It goes so high into the clouds that no one
can see it's top!--No one even knows how high it is for the men who
built it have been dead for hundreds of years.

STEEN. But what has that to do with the chimes?
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