About this story
You play Lorenzo, standing by a pillar beside a friend who came to study the crowd rather than the sermon. You give up your place to a provincial aunt and her veiled niece, Antonia, and spend the wait earning the right to ask one question. Then Ambrosio climbs the pulpit, says temptation borrows a trusted face, and looks twice at your pillar.
Who you’ll meet
Antonia alone in the near plane at the pillar; a pace behind her, Don Christoval among the crowd who gave up his own place to stand near them, his attention already gone to the pulpit; and the celebrated preacher small and high above them both.
How it opens
Don ChristovalThe Capuchin church filled an hour before the sermon was due.
Don ChristovalPerfume, damp wool, and smoke now share the high vault.
Don ChristovalMadrid has come to admire holiness and display new sleeves.
You found standing room beside a pillar where the central aisle remained visible.
Choose
Some may have come to hear the sermon.
Curiosity can still carry people toward virtue.
We are hardly entitled to accuse the crowd.