o welcome you;
see, how every heart springs towards you; see, how--

_Jos._ (_starting away from her, exclaims with energy_) Ha! now I
understand it all! the mystery is cleared! the web is unravelled! yes,
yes, the meaning bursts at once upon me, all in the broad blaze of its
daring villany, in all the hypocrisy of its deep-laid odious art!

_Ve._ What art? what villany? when kindly I woo you to--

_Jos._ Speak not! proceed not! let not the unholy words pass through
your lips, as you value your own soul! I guess your meaning; oh! then
pronounce it not; great as are your crimes let me save you from
committing one so monstrous as this! the lessons of vice from any lips
appear disgusting; but when a woman gives them breath-- tis horrible!
tis dreadful! tis unnatural!

_Ve._ (_aside_) Oh! if I dared-- no, no! it cannot be.

_Jos._ Ah! you melt? oh! then behold me kneeling before you; see my
anguish, my fears, my hopes. I have none but in you! remember your sex,
your habit, your former affection for me. You loved me once! even now
you called me your child, often have you prest me to your heart with all
a mother's tenderness-- oh! then by that tender name I charge you,
I implore you, tempt me not to vice; rather aid me to persevere in
virtue. Let me depart; restore me to my parents; I will never divulge
your dreadful secret. It's true I once threatned you; I would fain have
terrified you into penitence, but you know my heart, all merciful; you
know, that I would not willingly hurt even a worm!-- she weeps! she
pities me! blessings on you, eternal blessings! oh, let me hasten--
(_going, Veronica starts in terror: the nuns opposes her progress_)

_Ve._ Hold! detain her! Josepha, that I suffer-- that I feel for you--
it were fruitless to deny; but alas! unfortunate, your fate is decided;
your fate and mine! the prior-- the unrelenting prior-- oh, so guilty as
I am, I dare not look on death. Yield, then, Josepha, yield! all hope is
lost to you--

_Jose._ Nay, not so, lady! strong as are my fetters, heaven may one day
break them; but robbed of innocence, then, indeed, not heaven itself
could save me. When rains beat heavy, the rose for awhile may droop its
head oppressed; but the clouds will disperse, and the sun will burst
forth, and the reviving flower will raise its blushing cup again; but
all the flames of the sun and all the zephyrs of the south can never
restore its fragrance and its health to the once-gather'd lily.