This story by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón involves an extraordinary set of coincidences. A man is rejected after declaring his love for Mercedes, a beautiful South American widow he meets on a stagecoach. His friend is heartbroken when his fiancé Blanca disappears. The friend, a magistrate, occupies himself in pursuit of Gabriela, a woman sentenced to death for killing her husband by driving a nail through the top of his head. Both men are devastated when the woman they love and know by different names proves to be Gabriela. Themes include domestic violence, unrequited love, coincidence, deceit.