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Page 34
ABBESS. If you don't believe them real, I'll ask the Confessor to
introduce you. (She signs to the CONFESSOR who approaches.)
CONFESSOR (dressed in a black-and-white habit of Dominicans).
Sister!
ABBESS. Tell the patient who are at that table.
CONFESSOR. That's soon done.
STRANGER. Permit a question first. Haven't we met already?
CONFESSOR. Yes. I sat by your bedside, when you were delirious. At
your desire, I heard your confession.
STRANGER. What? My confession?
CONFESSOR. Yes. But I couldn't give you absolution; because it
seemed that what you said was spoken in fever.
STRANGER. Why?
CONFESSOR. There was hardly a sin or vice you didn't take upon
yourself--things so hateful you'd have had to undergo strict
penitence before demanding absolution. Now you're yourself again I
can ask whether there are grounds for your self-accusations.
(The ABBESS leaves them.)
STRANGER. Have you the right?
CONFESSOR. No. In truth, no right. (Pause.) But you want to know in
whose company you are! The very best. There, for instance, is a
madman, Caesar, who lost his wits through reading the works of a
certain writer whose notoriety is greater than his fame. There's a
beggar, who won't admit he's a beggar, because he's learnt Latin
and is free. There, a doctor, called the werewolf, whose history's
well known. There, two parents, who grieved themselves to death
over a son who raised his hand against theirs. He must be
responsible for refusing to follow his father's bier and
desecrating his mother's grave. There's his unhappy sister, whom he
drove out into the snow, as he himself recounts, with the best
intentions. Over there's a woman who's been abandoned with her two
children, and there's another doing crochet work. ... All are old
acquaintances. Go and greet them!
(The STRANGER has turned his back on the company: he now goes to
the table, left, and sits down with his back to them. He raises his
head, sees the picture of the Archangel Michael and lowers his
eyes. The CONFESSOR stands behind the STRANGER. A Catholic Requiem
can be heard from the chapel. The CONFESSOR speaks to the STRANGER
in a low voice while the music goes on.)
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus,
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulchra regionum
Coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura,
Cum resurget creatura
Judicanti responsura
Liber scriptus proferetur
In quo totum continetur
Unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit
Quidquid latet apparebit
Nil inultum remanebit.
(He goes to the desk by the table, right, and opens his breviary.
The music ceases.)
We will continue the reading. ... 'But if thou wilt not hearken
unto the voice of the Lord thy God all these curses shall overtake
thee. Curs�d shalt thou be in the city, and curs�d shalt thou be in
the field; curs�d shalt thou be when thou comest in, and curs�d
when thou goest out.'
OMNES (in a low voice). Curs�d!
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