This
plan, I assured myself, would be in perfect harmony with the design of
my work. The characters could be drawn from the people whom I had met in
my travels. The scenes could be those which I had visited, and the plot
and tone of the story could be made to aid the reader in understanding
the nature of the country and the people of which it was told. More than
all, I could make the story as long as I pleased.
This was a capital idea, and I began immediately to work upon it. I
managed the story very deftly; at least that was my opinion. My two
principal characters made their appearance in Sicily, and at first were
so intermingled with scenery and incidents as not to be very prominent;
then they came more to the front, and other characters introduced
themselves upon occasion. As these personages appeared and reappeared, I
hoped that they would gradually surround themselves with an interest
which would steadily increase the desire to know more and more about
them. Thus, as I went on, I said less and less about Sicily, and more
and more about my characters, especially the young man and the young
woman, the curious blending of whose lives I was endeavoring to depict.
This went on very smoothly for a few days, and then, about eleven
o'clock one morning, my nun suddenly leaned back in her chair and laid
down her pen.
Pages:
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100