Summary

Mata describes how terrible her life was as a married woman. Rudolf had a host of Asian women as lovers and stayed drunk a good deal of the time. He abused Mata verbally and physically. He called her a whore when he discovered that she was not a virgin and asked for details of her rape. He bought a school uniform and made her wear it while he recreated the rape. Mata writes that she forgot who she was during this period of her life. The only joy she had was caring for her daughter. She gave birth to a son but he died. It was believed he was poisoned by a servant in retaliation.

Mata rarely left the house until the regiment commander invited the officers and their wives to a dance performance. Before the performance, Mata talked to Andreas, whose wife...