Chapter 6 Summary

A stranger appears unexpectedly in the barrio. It is a young, beautiful woman dressed very elegantly in black clothing. The Perez brothers are working on a car in the street and freeze when they see the beauty. Yet they do not yell after her because they are in awe of her. She walks to senora Francesca's house and knocks on the door. In a few minutes she is admitted and a few seconds after she enters the house, she exits hastily. Senora Francesca yells and throws her husband's things out of the windows.

Lilita runs to calm her friend's cries. Magda's mother and senora Marta, who Magda thinks also visits senora Francesca in the night, soon join the other women. They learn the woman in black is senor Ruben's "kept" woman whom Senor Ruben has left for a younger mistress. She came to...