Introductory material

PART ONE

I Preamble—Somewhat Immoral Notions of a Boarding-House Keeper—A Balcony is Heard Closing—A Cricket Chirps

II Doña Casiana's House—A Morning Ceremony—Conspiracy—Wherein is Discussed The Nutritive Value of Bones—Petra and Her Family—Manuel; his Arrival in Madrid

III First Impressions of Madrid—The Boarders—Idyll—Sweet and Delightful Lessons

IV Oh, Love, Love!—What's Don Telmo Doing?—Who is Don Telmo?—Wherein the Student and Don Telmo Assume Certain Novelesque Proportions

PART TWO

I "The Regeneration of Footgear" and "The Lion of the Bootmaker's Art"—The First Sunday—An Escapade—El Bizco and his Gang

II The "Big Yard" or Uncle Rilo's House—Local Enmities

III Roberto Hastings at the Shoemaker's—The Procession of Beggars—Court of Miracles

IV Life in the Cobbler's Shop—Manuel's Friends

V La Blasa's Tavern

VI Roberto in Quest of a Woman—El Tabuenca and his Inventions—Don Alonso or the Snake-Man

VII The Kermesse on Pasión Street—"The Dude"—A Café Chantant

VIII Leandro's Irresolution—In La Blasa's Tavern—The Man with the Three Cards—The Duel with Valencia

IX An Unlikely Tale—Manuel's Sisters—Life's Baffling Problems

PART THREE

I Uncle Patas' Domestic Drama—The Bakery—Karl the Baker—The Society of the Three

II One of the Many Disagreeable Ways of Dying in Madrid—The Orphan—El Cojo and his Cave—Night in the Observatory

III Meeting with Roberto—Roberto Narrates the Origin of a Fantastic Fortune

IV Dolores the Scandalous—Pastiri's Tricks—Tender Savagery—A Modest Out-of-the-way Robbery

V Gutter Vestals—The Troglodites

VI Señor Custodio and his Establishment—The Free Life

VII Señor Custodio's Ideas—La Justa, el Carnicerín and El Conejo

VIII The Square—A Wedding in La Bombilla—The Asphalt Caldrons