The young Laura Llorente and young Gonzalo loved each other very dearly. Every day while passing by on horseback down the rose path under the window of Laura, Gonzalo used to toss up to her balcony a bouquet of flowers. Later in the afternoon, while the gallant young man was returning by the same path, he would catch the bouquet of flowers she would toss him. As days rolled by, Laura’s parents thought of marrying her to a well-known merchant in their locality. One night, while Gonzalo was waiting under her window to hear her sing, the merchant came there unexpectedly and insulted him.
This led to a quarrel and later a duel. The duel went on the whole night and at sunrise the next morning the merchant got badly wounded in the duel. The merchant was a well-known gentleman in Valencia. Since he had been badly wounded in the duel, Gonzalo became apprehensive of fearful consequences and so fled Valencia and went to Seville and then to Madrid.
