“Leave me! Your entreaties are in vain! You must from hence tomorrow!”

“Go then, barbarian! But this resource is still left me.”

As she said this, she suddenly drew a poniard: she rent open her garment, and placed the weapon’s point against her bosom.

“Father, I will never quit these walls alive!”

“Hold! Hold, Matilda! What would you do?”

“You are determined, so am I: the moment that you leave me, I plunge this steel in my heart.”

“Holy St. Francis! Matilda, have you your senses? Do you know the consequences of your action? That suicide is the greatest of crimes? That you destroy your soul? That you lose your claim to salvation? That you prepare for yourself everlasting torments?”