Chapter 2 opens with this comparison between the greater war outside—the War of the Mantuan Succession that will consume the area—and the war inside Don Abbondio’s head.
“Lorenzo, or Renzo, as everyone called him, did not keep Don Abbondio waiting.”
Take a look at this page in the original edition. Is this a graphic novel?
Manzoni presents some of the main characters with one-quarter or half-page illustrations, which he commissioned from Francesco Gonin. I spent a lot of my childhood in the public library of our small town. When I “graduated” from the children’s room to the grown-ups room upstairs, I was heartbroken to discover that adult books had no pictures. (Today, I’m amused by the diligence of our local librarians, who classified books according to the author’s real name: Samuel Clemens rather than Mark Twain, Mary Ann Evans rather than George Eliot.)
Lucia receives an equally theatrical introduction (and a half-page illustration):
She is the quiet introvert to Renzo’s extrovert. “Oh, Renzo!” is all she has to say in response to his demand for an explanation.
I found a short article that discusses in detail the hairstyle worn by Lucia for her ill-fated wedding day. I'm assuming Lorenzo and Lucia were both common names of the time, though my association with them is primarily of the de Medici and di Lammermoor (Donizetti's opera was premiered in 1835, about halfway between the first and final editions of The Betrothed). I thought both ingenue hero and heroine, despite being from the lower classes, were given an air of dignity and grace on these pages. Here is the article about the "Sperada" hair pins: https://www.ascasonline.org/articoloSETTE64.html
There is the dramatic action of a play with each of the conversations beginning with the priest’s poor fudging with “the rules” after giving Renzo the green light. Then Renzo on the road with wonderful Perpetua and her mixed loyalties for the priest not wanting him to get the blame but not being a great secret keeper. And the showdown back at the Priest’s and his losing all his lying skills. And finally with all this growing emotion inside Renzo, Lucia has some answers. Whew!