Nino! Nino! Where’s Nino? I want to see him! Why won’t they let me see him? He’s the only one I want to see. I don’t want to see my father, my brother, or my sister …
My sister! She stole him from me! Why did she steal him? Didn’t she know he was mine? Why can’t I see him? Tell him to come … Tell him to come and free me. We’ll go to Monte Ilice together … we’ll go and hide in the chestnut grove … alone … like the creatures of the wild. Tell him to come, to come armed with his gun … that way, he’ll frighten my goalers … they’re women … they’ll be scared … he’ll kill them if necessary … he’ll save me … he’ll find me here in my cell … and I’ll throw my arms round his neck! Yes, the nun!
The nun will escape … she’ll run away with him … with her sister’s husband … she’ll steal him back … They’ll go far away … they’ll walk and walk … they’ll go to the mountains, to the woods … they’ll be together and they won’t be afraid … they won’t hear Sister Agata screaming … There’ll be the stars, and the rain, and the sound of thunder, and he’ll knock on the window … She’ll cough … He’ll say, ‘Maria! Maria!’
Who’s Maria? I think I knew her … Maria’s dead, she’s run away … Where is she?
Oh, my poor head! Listen, Marianna … it’s night-time now … everyone’s asleep … no one will see me … I’ll creep downstairs … across the garden … it’s dark … the gravel on the paths won’t make any noise out of compassion for me … I’ll go up to the door … that nasty door will say no! And I’ll cry, and beg, and go down on my knees … I’ll say that Nino’s waiting for me, that I have to go to him … and not being a nun, the door will then take pity on me … and let me slip through the keyhole … then I’ll be outside … where there are sunshine and fresh air, streets, and people, and him! Where you can shout, and run, and cry, and hug the people you love … I’ll run away, I’ll run away … because Sister Agata clings to me if she sees me … and I’ll go and knock at his door and say, ‘Here I am!’ And he’ll hold out his arms to me … No, that’s wicked, that’s a sin! I’ll say to Giuditta, ‘I’m your sister … your poor sister who’s suffered so much … they wanted to kill your poor sister, they wanted to bury her alive … they wanted to lock her up with Sister Agata … let me stay here, I’ll be your servant, I shan’t love him any more … I’ll just look at him, through the keyhole, when you’re asleep and don’t need to look at him.’ O God! I’m so happy, Marianna, I’m so happy! Thank you, God, thank you!