Ciudad Rodrigo is taken, but Colonel Lawford is severely wounded and forced to relinquish command of the South Essex Regiment, depriving Captain Sharpe of an influential friend.
Later, during a night skirmish, a turncoat French soldier escapes the besieged town, bearing a dispatch and a letter from Teresa, but he is shot and killed.
Harry Price, one of Sharpe's officers, intervenes and is shot and apparently killed by Hakeswill while trying to protect Teresa.
Hakeswill then rapes and murders the widow of one of the company's soldiers, before retrieving his cache of stolen goods and deserting.
Harper is exonerated when he finds the missing portrait of Windham's wife hidden in Hakeswill's shako and returns it to the colonel.