Meanwhile, Simplicius has been taken up by General von Vliessen's entourage. Seemingly incapable of comprehending the finer arts of war, he is constantly rebuked by the Sergeant-major. Tilly takes him under her wing, determined to make a real soldier out of him. With the expected arrival of a Baron von Grübben now imminent, General von Vliessen has summoned his daughter Hildegarde from the convent in Prague where she has spent most of her life. Hildegarde unsuccessfully pleads with her father not to be made to marry a stranger.