sickly child. At the opening of the opera his fate has not been
discovered.

As the servitor closes his narrative and he and his companions depart,
the Count di Luna enters and lingers by the apartment of the Duchess
Leonora, with whom he is in love. Hearing his voice, Leonora comes
into the garden, supposing it is Manrico the troubadour, whom she had
crowned victor at a recent tournament, and of whom she had become
violently enamoured. As she greets the Count, Manrico appears upon the
scene and charges her with infidelity. Recognizing her error, she
flies to Manrico for protection. The Count challenges him to combat,
and as they prepare to fight she falls to the ground insensible.

In the second act we are introduced to a gypsy camp, where Azucena
relates to Manrico, who has been wounded in the duel with the Count,
the same story which Ferrando had told his friends, with the addition
that when she saw her mother burning she caught up the Count's child,
intending to throw it into the flames, but by a mistake sacrificed her
own infant. As the story concludes, a messenger arrives, summoning
Manrico to the defence of the castle of Castellar, and at the same
time informing him that Leonora, supposing him dead, has gone to a
convent. He arrives at the convent in time to rescue her before she
takes her vows, and bears her to Castellar, which is at once besieged
by the Count's forces.

The third act opens in the camp of the Count, where Azucena, arrested
as a spy, is dragged in. She calls upon Manrico for help. The mention
of his rival's name only adds fuel to the Count's wrath, and he orders
the gypsy to be burned in sight of the castle. Ferrando has already
recognized her as the supposed murderer of the Count's brother, and