_Venoni._ You weep? you repent?-- ah! then my resentment is over, and I find my mother once more! (_kissing her hand affectionately, and in the gentlest voice_) Look on me, my mother! cast on me one kind look; twill be the last; you will never see the wretched frantic youth again-- tomorrow-- oh! Hortensia, before we part for ever, tell me that you forgive me-- tell me, that you do not hate me for having thus wounded your feelings-- for having inflicted on you this unnecessary pain! _Hor._ (_embracing him passionately as he kneels_) Forgive you? yes, yes my son! my beloved son! I pardon you---- heaven knows, I pardon you-- and oh! in return may heaven and you pardon me! _Pri._ (_aside_) Ah! how I suffer! _Venoni._ I thank you! tis enough! now then I have no more to do with the world! (_to the prior_) good father, your pardon: I offended you even now; I remember it well. _Prior._ (_embracing him with dissembled affection_) And I, my son, had already forgotten it-- but tis time for us to retire-- come! _Venoni._ Yes, yes! let us away-- farewell, my friends! my mother, farewell! I shall never see you more; but you will never cease to be dear to me; never, never!-- and you too, my Josepha-- farewell! for a little while farewell! whom death hath divided, death shall soon re-unite-- come, father, come!-- farewell! bless you, bless you: oh! come, come, come! (_during this speech, his voice grows fainter; he leans on the prior, who conducts him slowly towards the door; at the end of the speech he sinks totally exhausted on the bosom of the prior, who conveys him away; while the viceroy and marquis lead off Hortensia on the other side_). _End of Act I._ ACT II. SCENE I.-- _The gardens of St. Mark-- in the background is a gothic chapel, to which is a flight of steps; adjoining is the cemetery of the Ursuline convent, and several tombs are visible through a large iron gate._ [Vespers are performing in the chapel; the last words are chanted, while the curtain rises-- the organ plays a voluntary, while the prior and his monks, descend from the chapel in procession. Father _Jeronymo_ enters hastily, and accosts the prior, who comes forward; he starts at the information given him, and hastily bestows his benediction on the monks, who go off.] _Prior._ Father Michael, say you? he wishes to see father Michael? _Jeronymo._ Wishes? nay, he insists upon seeing him. _Prior._ What business can he have with father Michael? what connexion can possibly subsist between them? how should it be even known to the viceroy, that such a being as father Michael exists? _Jer._ On these points I can give you no information-- yet now I recollect, that this very morning I observed a friar, whose air greatly resembled father Michael’s loitering about the viceroy’s palace.