Soon after they were separated by circumstances the young lovers Laura and Gonzalo pined for each other. After listening to Gonzalo’s account of how he had fled Aravaca, then joined the army in Africa and had met a glorious death in the war, Laura mutters to herself that it is an atrocious lie. Then Dona pretends to sympathise with him saying he must have been distressed by the calamity. Taking it as a strong point, Gonzalo pretends to say that it was indeed a calamity, but also tries to express his resentment complaining that on the contrary Laura had soon forgotten Gonzalo and was chasing butterflies in the garden without any regret. Dona Laura protests saying ‘no’ loudly and Gonzalo comments that it is a woman’s way. Dona Laura, so as not to be found fault with that way, offers her version of the story.
She tells him that the silver maiden awaited the news of Gonzalo for a year. As she did not receive any letters from him, went to the sea after sunset, wrote his name on the sand, sat on a rock and was finally swept out to the sea by the rising tide. Don Gonzalo mutters to himself that she was a worse liar than he was. Both of them openly express their sympathies for each other. Dona mutters to herself that she will not tell him that she got married two years later. Don Gonzalo mutters to himself that he ran off with a ballet dancer to Paris in three months. From their conversation and from their reactions to each other’s partially concocted story, we can conclude that Laura is more passionate.
