Marioni realizes that the boys haven't practiced as they claim, so the teacher talks to Domenico who admits that they did indeed meet, but didn't play. Nathan's parents complain that Matteo's arrival is slowing down their studies.

A teacher reads a passage from one of Shakespeare's sonnets and asks the class to interpret it. Matteo speaks up. Here is the original English: "Mark how one string, sweet husband to another, Strikes each in each by mutual ordering; Resembling sire and child and happy mother, Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing: Whose speechless song being many, seeming one, Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none."