I thought you were at church.
EMILIA.
I was. But what are churches and altars to the vicious?--Oh, my mother! (Throws herself into Claudia's arms.)
CLAUDIA.
Speak, my daughter, and remove my fears. What evil can have happened to you in so holy a place?
EMILIA.
Never should my devotion have been more fervent and sincere than on this day. Never was it less what it ought to have been.
CLAUDIA.
Emilia we are all human. The faculty of praying fervently is not always in our power; but, in the eye of Heaven, the wish to pray is accepted as prayer.