Returning home to Naples, Vivaldi decides to see his mother in order to make further inquiries about Schedoni. Upon seeing a monk in her quarters, he cannot determine if he is the same monk who delivered repeated warnings to him by the Paluzzi fortress on his way to Altieri. However, he decides to pose a few questions in order to detect incriminating changes in the monk’s expression. Upon pointing out some drawings of ruins in the marchesa’s cabinet, Vivaldi comments that a drawing of the Paluzzi fortress would make a fine addition. But Schedoni reveals little emotion. A telltale sense of angry discomfort, however, appears on his face when Vivaldi lashes out at secret advisers who poison the repose of families. Regaining his composure, Schedoni denies that Vivaldi’s comments apply to him. Vivaldi, noticing the monk’s apparent ease, begins to doubt if he is indeed his malefactor. But had he been less generous, he would have discerned the contempt and malignity lurking behind the smile.

Listening with apparent complacency, Schedoni is in fact secretly contemptuous, viewing Vivaldi as a rash young man whose motivations, feelings, and weaknesses are laid out all too visibly. With Vivaldi’s departure from the room, Schedoni exaggerates Vivaldi’s flaws to the marchesa while pretending to extenuate them and vowing to prevent him from disgracing his family.

In the meantime, the marchesa and Schedoni share a sympathy that allows them to forget their less than virtuous motivations. The marchesa overlooks his desire for a rich benefice, while Schedoni believes that her anxiety for her son’s circumstances constitutes a true interest in his welfare.