The Hacienda

This chapter takes place in September 1823, two months earlier. Beatriz arrives at Hacienda San Isidro with her new husband, Rodolfo.

Rodolfo introduces Beatriz to the servants of San Isidro, including José Mendoza, the foreman, Ana Luisa, the housekeeper, and Ana Luisa’s daughter, Paloma. As Rodolfo introduces the servants, a woman introduces herself as Rodolfo’s sister Juana. This surprises Beatriz because Rodolfo never mentioned that he had a sister. Beatriz notices tension between Juana and Rodolfo, but Juana assures Beatriz that she lives in the servant’s quarters, so Beatriz will have the main house to herself.

Beatriz starts to enter the house but hears a voice telling her to “get back.” Despite her sudden fear and apprehension, Beatriz walks up the steps leading to the front door. She jumps back when she sees a dead rat on one of the steps, which Juana tells her one of the cats killed.

Rodolfo gives Beatriz a tour of the house. He tells her that the northern wing is under repair, so she should stay away from it. He takes her into the dining room and tells her that she should never go up on the room’s ledge because a maid fell from there once. Beatriz hears the dining room laugh at her. Rodolfo does not react to the laughter, so Beatriz assumes she misheard it.

Beatriz has a flashback to seven months earlier when her father died. She remembers waking up to the house on fire and watching military officials drag her father away into the night. She grabbed her father’s military map before escaping with her mother. Later, Beatriz learned that insurgents deposed Agustín de Iturbide, Emperor of the newly independent Mexico, and his supporters were executed, her father one of them. Beatriz and her mother had to move in with Tía Fernanda, who discriminated against Beatriz because of her skin color. Because she was a woman, Beatriz could not inherit her father’s property or work for a living, so when she met Rodolfo, she took the opportunity to marry a rich man and escape her situation. However, Rodolfo was involved with the man who ordered her father’s death, so her mother refused to speak with her after she married him, even when she moved to San Isidro.

On Sunday, Rodolfo takes Beatriz to the town of Apan for mass. Rodolfo explains that he will introduce Beatriz to the other families that own haciendas, also known as the hacendados.

When they enter the church, Beatriz is aware of how the power dynamics shift. The people of Apan treat her with respect because she is the wealthiest estate owner’s wife. After mass, Beatriz meets the hacendados. One of the wives, Doña María José Moreno, comments that Beatriz is almost as beautiful as Rodolfo’s first wife, Doña María Catalina, although Beatriz is “quite darker.” Doña María José hopes that Beatriz will adapt to the country better than Doña María Catalina who was delicate and fragile. The mention of Rodolfo’s late wife and Doña María José’s blatant racism horrify Beatriz, and she has trouble focusing on anything else the hacendados say to her.

That night, Beatriz misses her parents and the life they once had together. She wishes that she had the type of love that her parents had. Beatriz sees a reflection of two red eyes behind her in the mirror. Even though they are gone almost instantly, Beatriz has the uncanny feeling that someone is watching her. She believes that the eyes are from one of the cats that Juana mentioned, but then realizes that she has not seen a single cat since she arrived at San Isidro.

This chapter takes place in December 1820, three years earlier.

Andrés returns to Apan after seven years of studying at a seminary in Guadalajara. At the church, Padre Guillermo, Padre Vicente, and Andrés prepare for a feast day. Andrés sees Padre Vicente greeting the hacendados. He recognizes Don Rodolfo, the son of old Solórzano, the patrón of San Isidro. Next to him is his new Criolla wife, Doña María Catalina. Andrés overhears Rodolfo asking Padre Guillermo to watch over his wife while he is gone because he has aligned with the insurgents, and he is afraid she will not be popular with the other hacendados. Andrés hopes that this means that Rodolfo is different than his father and that his family at San Isidro will be treated better than when Old Solórzano was alive.

Andrés examines Doña María Catalina. He notices how she looks at the townspeople as if she sees through them. When the war ends, he believes Rodolfo will take his Criolla wife back to the capital and leave San Isidro.

The narrative returns to the present day as Rodolfo leaves for the capital. Beatriz reminds him to deliver her letters to her mother. After he leaves, Beatriz unpacks and pins her father’s map to the wall in the study.

Beatriz finds a ladder at the edge of the garden that gives her a view of the maguey (agave) fields. She notices Juana walking in the fields. Even though she knows Juana dislikes her, Beatriz understands why Juana feels threatened by her arrival. Juana has the privilege of not having to marry for money—Rodolfo allows her to live at the hacienda if she oversees the harvesting. A voice suddenly startles Beatriz, whispering, “Juana, Juana.” Beatriz turns around but there is no one there. One of the ladder rungs suddenly breaks under Beatriz’s weight. She grabs the wall before she falls too far and then drops down to the ground unharmed.

Beatriz tries to befriend Juana that night. She takes Juana to her room to show her the blue silk she brought to decorate the house. Yet, when Beatriz opens her chest where she keeps her silks, she finds them soaked in blood.

Juana takes Beatriz to the kitchen to clean the blood off her hands. Beatriz smells copal, a type of tree resin burned as incense, when she enters the kitchen. Juana pours cold water over Beatriz’s hands, but they see that her hands no longer have bloodstains on them.

At dinner, Beatriz asks about María Catalina and realizes from Juana’s responses that she did not like María. When Beatriz goes up to her bedroom that night, she hears child-like laughter coming from the darkness and feels hands pushing her. She accidentally extinguishes her candle, and darkness surrounds her. She lights the candle again and sees the darkness retreat from her as if it is alive.