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Rh panic. I could not bear the burden of your fatherly rebuke.

AB. But think of my affection for you, and put aside your fears.

MARY. I cannot.

AB. Was it not for your sake that I left the home I love, my solitary cell, and almost entirely gave up my usual habits of self-discipline? Have not I, a professed hermit, for your sake kept company with roysterers and, to avoid risk of detection, even cracked jokes with them - I, who have so long practised silence? But why do you look down and keep your gaze fixed on the ground? Why do you refuse to answer me and converse with me?

MARY. The consciousness of my own guilt makes me dumb. That is why I dare neither lift up my gaze to heaven, nor contaminate your speech with my own.

AB. Do not lose faith, daughter, do not despair. Rather, rise up out of the depths and put your trust in God.

MARY. It is the enormity of my sins that has cast me down into this despair.

AB. Your sins are grievous, I must