Time and place: A large city by the Rhine, the present It is the Carnival season, and the Elferrat, the Carnival's organising council, especially its chairman Peter Sander, is a bit perturbed by the regular appearance at every masquerade ball by a rather entertaining young female in the mask of a golden pierrot.
During the following conversation she learns that the man is in fact Horst Brenkendorf who her father has selected as her future husband.
Horst is enchanted by this cheery female in the Pierrot mask, and confides to her that his future bride has been described to him as rather humdrum and plain.
On the wedding day, he surprisingly receives a billet-doux from Pierrot, inviting him to the tryst they promised each other at the ball.
Edith is bitterly disappointed by her husband's apparent willingness to cheat on her on her wedding day and breaks out in tears.