Why the Chimes Rang: A Play in One Act by Elizabeth Apthorp McFadden
page 14 of 62 (22%)
page 14 of 62 (22%)
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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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