Part 2, Section 1, "That Sunday..." Summary

A Sunday morning opens with Norma dressing in her bedroom for a society wedding she must attend. Robles watching her reflects to himself that her face has become the generic "mask worn by all internationally styled models" and that she has, over the years, molded her face into that of a typical beauty, as founding an imagined print. He's not surprised by the change; quite the contrary, he's always regarded her as an idea, an image. Over the years she has merely conformed to his expectations and his will, he thinks.

Making love with her was a "ceremony as precise as the four quarters of a watch dial" he reflects, and compares her unfavorably with his Indian lover, a blind woman named Hortensia. Federico's true passion is aroused only by Hortensia, who recalls for him...