“Hold! Father, hold! Hear me but for one moment! Tax me not with impurity, nor think that I have erred from the warmth of temperament. Long before I took the veil, Raymond was master of my heart: he inspired me with the purest, the most irreproachable passion, and was on the point of becoming my lawful husband. An horrible adventure, and the treachery of a relation, separated us from each other: I believed him forever lost to me, and threw myself into a convent from motives of despair. Accident again united us; I could not refuse myself the melancholy pleasure of mingling my tears with his: we met nightly in the gardens of St. Clare, and in an unguarded moment I violated my vows of chastity. I shall soon become a mother: reverend Ambrosio, take compassion on me; take compassion on the innocent being whose existence is attached to mine. If you discover my imprudence to the domina, both of us are lost: the punishment which the laws of St.

“Your boldness confounds me! Shall I conceal your crime, I whom you have deceived by your feigned confession? No, daughter, no! I will render you a more essential service. I will rescue you from perdition in spite of yourself; penance and mortification shall expiate your offence, and severity force you back to the paths of holiness. What; ho! Mother St. Agatha!”

“Father! By all that is sacred, by all that is most dear to you, I supplicate, I entreat.⁠ ⁠…”

“Release me! I will not hear you. Where is the domina? Mother St. Agatha, where are you?”

The door of the vestry opened, and the prioress entered the chapel, followed by her nuns.