Beatrice, escaped from the house of her tormentor, wanders the hills of the Abruzzi region until she is nursed back to health by a kind old man who introduces her to Paterinism. They enjoy several months together in the wilderness, taking in the "fresh air, and the view of the sky and the hills" (363).  When the old man is hunted down and executed for his heresy, Beatrice is fully convinced that evil is chief on earth.