The wedding guests did drag me off And take the knife away. But, Ah! There was one stain of blood it bore, Where, as I struck, it slashed across The dark and faithless cheek of her And left it scarred for life. Scarred! When I had meant to kill. All that night I lingered, watching 'neath her window-- Saw once more the haunting face of my Maria-- Saw her once more--I can see her still!-- Fled away and am buried here In God's own house and all unchastened yet. In very irony, it would seem, to the simplicity of his nature, the outpourings of the novitiate's sorrowing heart have been confessed to his wife, the scarred-faced Lucretia, who inhabits the monastery in the guise of the Father Confessor (not an unknown historical fact) thus in its very inception lending an intense dramatic effect to the story. Now, at the ringing of the bell, the villagers enter the public loft, Maria--his lost love--in the foreground unrecognized either by Francesco or Lucretia, singing an "Ave Maria:" Ave Maria, Mother of Mercy, Thou art our hope, and our sweetness and life. Pray for Francesco, Oh, watch o'er his footsteps; Turn on his sorrow thine eyes sweet and tender. At thy dear feet anguished I fall To pray for him-- For oh! somewhere he's wandering, Sorrow enduring. Pray for him Mother, oh watch o'er his footsteps. Lost, lost to me, yet so dear to me-- Pray for him, oh Mother dear. Ave Maria! Hope of the hopeless! To thy sweet mercy in anguish I cry-- Pray for Francesco, my own, my beloved-- Pray for him Mother, oh pray for Francesco. Lost, lost to me--oh! loved and lost! Oh Mother dear pray for him. Again the bell rings and the monks pass before the altar with genuflections and sink in their stalls in prayer, while a male chorus chants the Office of the Benediction. During the singing of the anthem, Francesco enters with cowl thrown back and a lighted taper in his hand. He is recognized by Maria and at her exclamations starts to her but is restrained by the Father Confessor now disclosed to him for the first time as his discarded wife. After a trio of great dramatic force, Francesco seizes a dagger drawn by Lucretia to kill him, and stabbing himself, expires in Maria's arms, while Lucretia, still disguised as the Father Confessor, takes back her place unnoticed among the monks who hold their crosses in horror against the suicide! Waller wrote the entire service in imitation of the sombre Gregorian Mass, and then over the face of this dark background sketched in modern passionate music the lyrical and dramatic lightning of the action. This wonderful conception, both in idea, words and music, was "passed by censors" of the church--that is, Archbishop Corrigan and the Archbishop of Paris both said that while they did not approve of representations of the Church on the stage, it had been done before, and would no doubt be done again. Otherwise there was nothing objectionable in it.