premier tableau – a cloister. while cordelia recognizes orso as her torturer, uberta learns by chance that the killer of her son is also orso ! the two women argue over which should kill him. cordelia decides with her plea : « you only mourn a death; i, i mourn myself, alive! ». cordelia strikes orso, and he falls to the ground, his throat cut with a dagger thrust. as a fight ensues, his men carry him, still breathing, to the shade of a church porch. when cordelia and uberta retrace steps to finish their vengeance, they cannot find the body and wonder if he was only injured. cordelia cries out : « god of vengeance ! let him be dead ! i will not finish the task ! ».