They exchanged a few words in a scarcely audible whisper.

The Mother had come in person to take the nun's place for a while, judging that it would not be well if Giovanni wakened and found himself alone with her.
The Sister went to her cell, where she had not been since the explosion on the previous evening.

The brick floor was strewn with broken glass and was damp with the fine rain, driven through the lattice by the southwest wind during the night.

Even the rush-bottomed chair was all wet, and the edge of the white counterpane on the little bed.

It was all very desolate..