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the bells of san pasquale. 105
beheld, and although you are so gray, I would like to
kiss and caress you."
But she liked the bells most.
From this one may certainly know that her love
was strong, for to all others it was distressing to listen
to these bells, that would not cease ringing. No one
minded them during the first half hour. During the
first half hour one scarcely heard them, but during the
second and third !
Do not think that San Pasquale’s little bells could
not make themselves heard. They have always had
a powerful sound, and now it was as if the sound in
them grew and grew. Soon it seemed as if there was
nothing but bells up in the mist, as if the whole sky
was full of them, although one could not see them on
account of the clouds.
When Donna Elisa first heard the ringing, she
thought it was San Guiseppe’s little bell, and
afterwards that it was the cathedral bell itself. Then she
thought she heard the Dominican monastery bell also,
and at last she knew for certain that all the bells of
the city were ringing with all their might, all the bells
in the five monasteries and the seven churches. It
seemed to her she could distinguish them all, until
she asked and learned, that it was only San Pasquale’s
small bells that rang.
During the first hours, and before it was yet known
everywhere that the bells rung entirely of themselves,
one only noticed that the rain-drops kept time with
the ringing, and that all who spoke had a clear,
ringing voice. One also found that it was impossible to
play either mandolin or guitar, because the sound of
the bells mingled with the music and made it deafen-
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