Poor girls!

Two women, completely covered and whose faces cannot be seen, have been arrested by two bailiffs who are following them. They have just passed through an archway that leads to the interior of the prison, as shown in the three manuscripts that explain the engravings in this series.

The darkness, achieved with a two-tone aquatint, envelops the figures. In the background a bright light, probably heralding the dawn, is interrupted by clouds.

In this print Goya continues with the theme of prostitution that he had tackled in print no. 19 of The Caprices (All Will Fall) and which he continued to develop in prints nos. 20 and 21. In this case the painter depicts the raids that took place with some regularity and in which prostitutes were arrested and taken to prison, many of whom were subsequently taken to the San Fernando Asylum to be picked up. At the same time, the artist criticises in a veiled way the hypocrisy of those who enforced the law, who were the same people who often extorted money from these women in order to obtain benefits of various kinds from them.

The theme appears in the first Satire To Arnesto by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (Gijón, 1744-Puerto de Vega, Navia, 1811), which had inspired the Aragonese artist in other engravings in the series.