After attending the funeral service of Bianchi at the convent of Santa Maria della Pieta, Ellena visits the abbess in the parlor and accepts the abbess’s invitation to reside at the convent as a temporary asylum. She heads back to Altieri for the purpose of informing Vivaldi, who accepts her decision but not without fear that the nuns may persuade her to stay permanently.

In the meantime, Vivaldi is more determined than ever to find out more about the monk and his prediction of the death of Bianchi. As such, he decides to explore every corner of the fortress of Paluzzi at midnight. Given his friend Bonarmo’s refusal, Vivaldi brings his own servant, Paulo.

As Ellena prepares for her departure, she hears a rustling from the foliage outside of the lattice. Alarmed, she closes it before hearing Beatrice’s screams. Three masked men wrapped up in cloaks throw a veil over her face before forcing her into a carriage that proceeds at a rapid pace all night, except for a change of horses. As they approach a cathedral on the following afternoon, Ellena finds herself admiring the sublime scenery of the mountains despite her anxieties and fright. Upon reaching the convent, she wonders if at least one of the monks was involved in her abduction. Ellena’s sense of discomfort is aggravated by the paintings on the walls, filled with superstitious subjects. Not least, the nun who leads her to the abbess’s parlor wears an expression of gloomy malignity.

Stately and filled with a sense of her own importance, the abbess has little tolerance for those who offend against persons of rank. Not surprisingly, she shows little sympathy for Ellena in her assumption that Ellena deliberately sought the hand of Vivaldi. Ellena, in her turn, is shocked by the abbess’s open accusations of destroying Vivaldi’s family. As Ellena is led through the refectory to her room, she finds herself troubled by the inquisitive glances and busy whispers of the nuns, who stare at her.

Her reflections on the Vivaldi family lead her to reject a relationship with Vivaldi himself and to take pride in the industrious means by which she had her own independence. Nonetheless, she cannot entirely refrain from thinking about him.