Chapter 4: Villa Franca Summary

Juan Francisco is a happy, healthy baby with a wet nurse named Rosaria. The entire ensemble is to travel together. They set out by steamer with some others bound for Paraguay. Ella is having trouble starting a conversation with a woman on the boat because everybody knows that she is a mistress. The woman's small dog is also a constant annoyance to her, so Ella leaves the ship to travel with her horse overland. A small escort accompanies her. Marie is not accustomed to traveling on horseback and breaks her arm in a fall. Dr. Kennedy leaves the steamer to assist and finds that Marie has a bad compound fracture. He amputates the arm. Meanwhile, Ella has left Marie behind. She feels bad about leaving the ship after hearing what happened. Marie is delirious due to losing so much...