Content Warning: The source material contains depictions of rape and incest. It also uses outdated terminology to refer to Roma people, which readers may find offensive.

A third-person omniscient narrator describes a bustling scene in the Church of the Capuchins in Madrid, Spain. The church is packed with spectators. A veiled girl, Antonia, enters the church with her aunt; the two women cannot find seats until two young noblemen (including Don Lorenzo) offer them chairs. Don Lorenzo is intrigued by Antonia’s figure and seeks permission to remove Antonia’s veil; when he does, he is delighted by Antonia’s beauty. Antonia’s aunt gives Don Lorenzo an account of Antonia’s history: She is the child of a “commoner,” Elvira, who married a nobleman but was spurned by his relations. While her husband’s relatives allowed her to keep Antonia, they took Elvira’s son from her; the boy (apparently) died. Following her husband’s death, Elvira now resides in Madrid with Antonia and hopes to save herself and her daughter from poverty by appealing to her husband’s relative, the Marquis de la Cisternas, for financial support. Don Lorenzo, a close friend of the Cisternas family, promises to speak to the marquis on Antonia’s behalf.