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Simão's wound was very serious. The bullet had passed sideways through his left arm. The bullet had not broken the bone. However, an important blood vessel continued to bleed. The dressings could not stop the bleeding. Hours later, Simão lay down with a fever. The farrier, who was used to treating animals, did all he could to cure him.
The muleteer then left for Coimbra. He was to spread false news in the city. He would say that Simão had stayed in Porto. Simão feared losing his arm. But he suffered even more because of Teresa. He needed to know what had happened to her. João constantly watched the house and the nearby roads. He feared that the authorities might suspect him. People returning from the market spoke about the two dead men. It was known that they were Baltasar's servants. Yet no one knew who had killed them.
That afternoon, a letter from Teresa reached Simão. ‘I hope you reached those good people's house safely,’ she wrote. Teresa felt that something mysterious had happened. Her father had spent the morning shut away with Baltasar. Moreover, Tadeu kept Teresa shut in her room. He had ordered the inkpot to be removed from her room. Fortunately, Teresa had hidden another inkpot.
The poor woman appeared beneath the window to beg for alms. Teresa signalled to her to wait for the letter. The messenger mentioned two dead servants. Teresa could not understand the whole message. At that moment, young Rita, Simão's sister, appeared at the window. Rita made signs from behind the panes. In this way, Teresa learnt that the dead men served Baltasar. Teresa then understood that Simão had been attacked.
‘My dear Simão, are you wounded?’ Teresa asked. ‘Will I be the cause of your death?’ Teresa now asked God only to keep Simão alive. In the letter, Teresa asked Simão to flee from those places. Simão should go to Coimbra and wait. Teresa also asked Simão to trust her.
Simão replied in order to reassure Teresa. He said very little about his wound. His words made the danger seem slight. He promised to leave for Coimbra as soon as he could. But he would leave only when Teresa was safe. He also asked her to call for him. She was to do so if they took her to the convent.
Meanwhile, the authorities summoned Baltasar to clarify matters in the inquiry. Baltasar confirmed that the dead men were his servants. He said that they had no enemies in Viseu. He also denied having any suspicion about anyone. The neighbours had heard two shots together. Shortly afterwards, they heard a third shot. One man had seen cut bushes near the site of the ambush. None of these facts revealed the killers. The inquiry could not move forwards.
Yet Tadeu had been complicit in the attempt on Simão's life. Tadeu had conceived the idea of the ambush after the ball. Baltasar had given the servants the practical orders. Both men wanted to erase every sign of their link to the attack. They could not produce evidence against Simão without harming their own honour. They believed that he had gone to Coimbra or sought his father. They also hoped that he was wounded and would die far away.
Tadeu decided to confine Teresa in a Porto convent. He chose the Monchique convent. A close relative was the prioress there. Tadeu wrote to his relative and asked her to prepare rooms for Teresa. He also ordered his agent to arrange the necessary religious permissions. That process would take some time. Therefore, he sought a temporary confinement in Viseu that would prevent incidents.
At dusk, Teresa finished reading Simão's reply. The poor woman had sent the letter up on a thread. Teresa quickly hid the letter close to her breast. At that moment, her father entered the room. Tadeu ordered her to dress for going out, with a cloak and scarf. Teresa asked where they were going. Tadeu refused to answer, ordered her to dress respectably and demanded obedience.
Teresa asked him to listen to her. ‘If you mean to force me to marry Baltasar, I refuse.’ ‘I shall die content, but I will not marry him.’ Tadeu replied that Baltasar no longer wanted her. He called her unworthy for speaking to Simão at night. Then he announced that she would go to a convent. Teresa said that she had already asked him many times for that fate.
Alone, Teresa began to weep. She wanted to write to Simão at once, but at that hour she had no messenger. She knelt before the image of the Virgin. Her devotion was genuine and deep. She asked for protection for herself and strength for Simão to withstand the blow. She also asked that they might both remain faithful. Then Teresa packed paper, ink and the bundle of Simão's letters. She carried everything hidden close to her breast. Teresa asked permission to take the image, the confidante of her love. Tadeu refused and said, ‘If you had as much shame as devotion, you would be happier.’
A cousin then spoke to Teresa. She was one of Baltasar's sisters. The cousin proposed marriage as the solution. Teresa replied that Baltasar did not want her. The cousin claimed that Tadeu spoke that way because of his love as a father. She offered to speak to Teresa's father. ‘I shall be your sister-in-law when I no longer have a heart.’ Teresa said that Baltasar knew she loved Simão. Teresa wanted to live for Simão. ‘If they kill me because I love Simão, I shall bless my executioners,’ Teresa declared.
Shortly afterwards, the convent gate opened before Teresa and her cousins. Teresa entered without shedding a tear. Teresa kissed her father's hand, and Tadeu did not draw it away before the nuns. Then she embraced her cousins with a cheerful face. The heavy door began to close. ‘I am freer than ever,’ Teresa declared. ‘The freedom of the heart is everything.’
The nuns looked at one another. The word heart had seemed to them a heresy inside the house of God. The prioress asked what Teresa had said. Teresa replied that she felt very well there. One nun corrected the form of address. Teresa was to say ‘Mother Prioress’. The prioress said that no one came there to feel well, but to mortify the spirit. There, everyone was to put aside worldly passions. The novice mistress was to guide Teresa in religious life.
The prioress explained that Teresa was her guest. She did not yet know whether Tadeu would choose that convent or another. Perhaps Tadeu wanted her to take vows in a wealthy order. Teresa declared that she did not want to be a nun. She did not want to take vows there or anywhere else. ‘No one can force me to do that,’ she insisted. The prioress admitted that this was true. But she said that a year of novitiate would give Teresa time to change.
According to her, the convent was a paradise for the body and the soul. The nuns lived together like angels. There were no passions, intrigues, malicious gossip or cares that disturbed sleep there. Then the prioress went to fetch supper. Immediately afterwards, the other two nuns spoke. One called the prioress a liar and a schemer. The other recounted the same woman's old romantic scandals. Despite her sorrow, Teresa laughed. The life of angels was already showing another face.
The prioress returned with broth and chicken. Teresa said that she did not want to eat. The old woman insisted that she needed to eat in order to endure. Then she began speaking ill of the other nuns. She accused them of passions, meetings in the parlour and bad behaviour. At that moment, the convent secretary entered. She had come to ask for the glass of medicinal wine she drank every night.
The prioress sent her to spy on the other two near the portress's cell. The secretary gladly accepted the task. When she left, the prioress criticised her. She said that the secretary drank too much and arrived drunk at choir. She also said that the woman insulted her friends. Nevertheless, she called her a good woman. The bell summoned the nuns to the choir. The prioress drank another glass before leaving.
The secretary returned and found Teresa alone. She promised to stay with her instead of praying. Teresa preferred to be alone and weep. But the secretary refused to go away. She asked whether the prioress had spoken ill of her. Teresa replied that the prioress had praised her. The secretary did not believe her and accused the prioress of drinking and having lovers. The secretary herself drank a glass of wine.
Next, the conversation took another turn. Tadeu had ordered that Teresa must not write. The secretary knew about that order. Nevertheless, she offered ink, paper, wafers for sealing letters and her own room. She could also receive letters in her own name. Her name was Dionísia da Imaculada Conceição. Teresa thanked her and spoke of the poor messenger. Dionísia promised to send her a message as soon as day came. But she told Teresa to distrust the organist and the novice mistress. Dionísia could help Teresa, but she was not a reliable ally.
The prioress returned before Teresa could hear more. Dionísia immediately began praising the convent. The prioress pretended to believe all those words. Then she gave her another glass of wine. She called the drink a penance. Dionísia drank it and left contented.
The narrator does not dwell further on this sample of convent life. Tadeu had left his daughter in an environment ironically presented as pure and angelic. Meanwhile, he was preparing another confinement for her in Monchique. Teresa felt bitterness and disgust. She had believed convents to be refuges of virtue, innocence and hope. She had also read letters from her aunt at Monchique and heard stories of charity and miracles. Those nuns destroyed that ideal image. Teresa wished to flee from that place at once.
Teresa's bed stood in a small alcove in the prioress's cell. Teresa asked whether she could write to her father. The prioress recalled Tadeu's prohibition. She said that Teresa might write the next day. However, she said that she had neither ink nor paper in the cell. The prioress knelt down to pray. She fell asleep during the second Lord's Prayer, before finishing her devotions. She rose unsteadily, lay down and soon began to snore.
Teresa slowly drew back the curtains. She took out the hidden ink and paper. A faint light from the little altar fell on the chair holding her clothes. Teresa knelt beside a chair. There she wrote to Simão and carefully recounted the events of that day.
‘Do not fear for me, Simão.’ ‘My sufferings are slight beside what you have endured for love of me.’ ‘Misfortune has not weakened my resolve.’ ‘Nor should it frighten you or prevent your plans.’ ‘They are only a few stormy days.’
‘I shall tell you of any new decision that my father makes.’ ‘I shall write when I am able.’ ‘If you receive no news, always believe that it was impossible for me to send any.’ ‘Never think that I have become less steadfast.’ ‘Love me in my unhappiness, my dear Simão.’ ‘The unhappy need love and comfort most.’ ‘I shall try to forget this sadness in sleep.’ ‘How sad this is, my dear friend!’ ‘Farewell.’