ONE DAY …
Meanwhile Capitu wanted to know one day why I was so silent and bad-tempered. She suggested Europe, Minas, Petropolis, a series of balls, a thousand and one of those remedies recommended to people under a cloud. I did not know what to answer and refused all her suggestions. As she insisted I replied that my affairs were going badly. She gave an encouraging smile. What did it matter if they were going badly? Later they would improve, and until then we could sell her jewels and other objects of value and go and live in a back alley. We would live quietly, forgotten by everyone until we got our heads above water again. The tenderness with which she said this would have moved a heart of stone. But to no effect. I replied curtly that we wouldn’t have to sell anything and continued as quiet and bad-tempered as before. She suggested playing cards or draughts, going for a walk, paying a visit to Matacavalos, and as I would agree to nothing she went to the sitting-room, opened the piano and began to play. Taking advantage of her absence, I picked up my hat and left …
Forgive me, but this chapter should have been preceded by another, in which I told of an incident that occurred some weeks earlier, two months after Sancha’s departure. I’m going to write it and may place it before this one before sending the book to press, but it’s not easy to alter the numbers of the pages. I’ll send it as it is, then the story goes straight on to the end. In any case it’s short.