Casanova's helpful friend Senator Bragadin uses his influence to have him moved to a larger, better-lit cell - just as he was making headway on an escape tunnel. Discovering the hole, vindictive turnkey Lorenzo takes the opportunity to stripsearch him, on pretext of looking for the instrument he dug it with. To increase Casanova's misery, he has to share his new cell with an acquaintance, the obnoxious broker Schalon, whose perfumed silks bring with them memories of happier, pre-incarceration times.
—Peter Brynmor Roberts