Continued incarceration and the conversation of his cellmate are starting to take their toll on Casanova. His mind is cast back to a visit he once made to Mantua. On the run from an angry mob after he disrupted a commedia dell'arte troupe's performance, he took refuge in the house of an elderly judge with a beautiful daughter. Seeing the old man's credulity about holy relics and the occult, Casanova hatched a plot to part him from his money and the girl from her virginity.
—Peter Brynmor Roberts