[SCENE I: Atalanta, the novice, sits, rebellious and sullen, on the steps of the Mother Superior's daïs. From time to time nuns and novices pass across the stage to the left, on their way to the refectory. Sister Grimana, an old nun, comes down to Atalanta purposefully.]GRIMANA. Sulking again, are you? Waiting for Sister Benvenuta, are you?[Atalanta is silent.]Remembering things that are really no concern of yours; and thinking they concern you because you remember them—doubtless quite inaccurately. I know. It's a way of the Badoer family—and of the Loredani, too, for that matter. When you were a child there was confiture with the bread—and you threw away the crust; and they let you do it, and now you can't find your vocation.