Having heard a few disturbing hints dropped by her son during their recent conversation and his actions, the marchesa summons Schedoni. Still smarting from Vivaldi’s insults, he reluctantly goes to see her. Especially troublesome are the facts that Vivaldi has dredged up of his past life: facts so alarming that had Vivaldi not been the son of the marchesa, Schedoni would have murdered him. He begins to contemplate revenge.

After the marchesa expresses her worries about Vivaldi, Schedoni suggests that the obedience of youth is hopeless without severer measures on her part. As he recounts Vivaldi’s visit to the convent, he exaggerates some details and invents others while forming a picture of monstrous impiety and insult. He then prepares her for measures necessary for his revenge by flattering her vanity.

He tells her it is time that Vivaldi was controlled with a stronger hand while praising her for qualities he wishes her to possess, by equating sternness and justice and extolling callous insensibility as strength of mind.

In the meantime, Vivaldi has already left home, wandering from village to village, and from town to town, in search of Ellena.

On the seventh day of his search, he and Paulo encounter a group of pilgrims led by a friar. They are eating and drinking merrily, behaving more like festive partiers than pilgrims. He decides to follow them to their destination. He gets Paulo to buy a pilgrim’s outfit in order to prevent suspicion.