On an early morning after having spent hours locked in the fortress Paluzzi, Paulo finds that the door has been opened. When they reach the arch, Vivaldi decides to visit the villa Altieri, where he is astonished to find the lower lattices open and the servant, Beatrice, bound to a pillar. She claims that there were four masked men, two of whom whisked Ellena off, with the other two tying Beatrice to the pillar.

At this point, Vivaldi realizes that Ellena was abducted on orders from his family and that he himself was decoyed to the fortress Paluzzi since his family knew he would be proceeding there.

Finding little information from his parents about the events at Altieri, Vivaldi decides to seek out Schedoni at his convent. He searches several places, including his room, before finding Schedoni at an obscure area of the cloister. As Schedoni refuses to answer queries, Vivaldi chases him. The other ecclesiastics seize the young man, trying to force him through the cloisters to the vaults, but he manages to elude them.

In the evening, Vivaldi strolls down to the beach, where he overhears several fishermen discussing the recent events at Altieri. Discovering that the speeding carriage probably passed Bracelli, Vivaldi decides to have Paulo accompany him on a search for Ellena.