The scene opens with a soliloquy by Madame Bovary, in which she laments the fact that her son has been kidnapped and sold into slavery. She asks Bovary to prepare a ransom for her son, but he refuses, saying that he is a "good citizen" and that he has never offended anyone. She tells him that she has been waiting for him for some time, and he says that she must have some maniacal fan in the villa who knows him. She says that the villa looks luxurious, and that maybe he is not being trafficked