Claire and Solange are sisters, both in their 30s and serving as maids for Madame. The play opens in Madame’s bedroom, where the younger sister Claire is dressed in a slip and surrounded by flowers, and pretending to be Madame. Meanwhile, the older sister Solange pretends to be Claire. This is their nightly ritual. With heightened dramatic gestures and tone, Claire-as-Madame admonishes Solange-as-Claire for bringing gloves from the kitchen, which she views as dirty, into the bedroom. Claire orders Solange to lay out a white dress for her, casually accusing Solange of coveting her jewelry and allowing a man to seduce her. Solange begins to shine Madame’s shoes, but Claire is disgusted with her use of saliva as polish. Solange responds with deference and humility. Claire comments that she will look beautiful and insults Solange’s appearance, briefly dropping her performance of Madame to say that Solange will “never seduce Mario” and complaining, “A ridiculous young milkman despises us, and if we’re going to have a kid by him—” (37). Solange cuts her off, and Claire steps back into character.

To Claire’s dismay, Solange brings out a dark red dress and commands Claire to wear it rather than the white one.