Chapter 7 Summary

Margalida, who has been married to the widow Taddeo for less than a year, orders her stepdaughter Josefa to hoe the garden at midday. The heat is stifling, but Josefa finishes her chores and finds Margalida in the house taking a siesta. Margalida orders Josefa to iron some sheets, but Josefa refuses and goes to her room to rest.

Margalida, who is only three years older than Josefa, tells Taddeo later that Josefa has been insolent and will not obey her. Taddeo worries that his daughter and his new wife cannot get along, and Margalida suggests that they send Josefa to Sant Clara, a nunnery. Josefa asks her father if he will find her a husband, and Taddeo tells her she is ugly, and he cannot afford a dowry. Josefa looks in the mirror and for the first time despairs, when she sees...