noni stands before the picture, which is to
the left of the audience, and gazes upon it with rapture_)

_Hor._ My child! my child!

_Mar._ My Josepha!

_Pri._ (_aside_) Oh rage!

_Hor._ I expire! (_Venoni on hearing Hortensia's last exclamation, turns
round, hastens to raise her from her kneeling attitude, places her on
the couch, and throws himself at her feet_)

_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