Summary

Elisa stays up reading the letter that Pablo left her with after their walk on the Malecón. In his first letter, he describes his desire for her and his frustration of not being able to be with her openly because of who they are. She writes a response instead of sleeping, her hand shaking as she puts words on the page. Following Pablo’s suggestion, she finds a book in her family’s library that was written by Montesquieu, and falls asleep reading it. When she wakes, Beatriz is rifling through their father’s desk. She is looking for money, to give to Alejandro. It is revealed that Alejandro has been disowned because he was involved in an attempt to assassinate President Batista with the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil, or the DRE.

As Elisa leaves the house to meet Pablo, her younger sister...