Part 2, Section 11, " Mercedes Zamacona" Summary

The woman who was Robles's first love as a young teenager tells her story to Ixca. As a young girl, she'd been raised as a strict catholic, all the more so as her uncle is a priest. A beautiful young girl, she notices that whenever she walks in the fields of her hacienda, she draws all the desiring glances of the older men. Without understanding anything of what it means, she guiltily prays and repents of "that black staring." Daily she grows more aware of her sexuality and beauty, sure that something will soon happen to her. Soon her uncle brings home another young novitiate studying for the priesthood, Federico Robles. Young Robles looks at her constantly, even through cracks in the walls. For weeks this game of eye contact is played, until finally they...