Eugénie and her aunt, Madame Murer, have come to London from their native Wales. They are accompanied by Eugénie's father Baron Hartley, who believes they're in town on business. In fact, Eugénie has secretly married The Earl of Clarendon and has come to visit him; they are staying in the Earl's petite maison, near his palace. Eugénie is dismayed that the Earl has gone out of town despite knowing about their plans to visit. Madame Murer—who is the only member of Eugénie's family that knows about the wedding—tries to reassure Eugénie that noblemen like the Earl simply have busy schedules. (It's of note that the script frequently indicates that Eugénie's father, the Baron, is not a nobleman.) Eugénie is even more concerned because she is already pregnant, and still hasn't told her father about her marriage, due to the insistence of Madame Murer and the Earl that it should be kept a secret. The Baron has even started to prepare an arranged marriage for her to someone else—an old military man by the name of Cowerly.
