HAPPINESS IS ALL-FORGIVING
‘Strapping lass’ is vulgar; José Dias found a better expression. He was the only one who visited us in Tijuca, bringing greetings from our families and also words of his own – words which were music to our ears and which I won’t include here because I am trying to save paper, but they were delightful. One day he compared us to two birds living in contiguous niches of the same roof. You can imagine the rest: the birds spread their wings and flew into the sky, a sky that now grew wider to receive them. Neither of us laughed. We were moved and listened seriously, forgetting everything, even that afternoon in 1857 … Happiness is all-forgiving.