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On 17 March 1807, Simão left prison. He boarded at Ribeira with seventy-five convicts. Only Simão was unbound; the others were tied. Mourão requested that favour; the regedor, the chief magistrate, authorised it. An officer escorted Simão; Mariana watched the baggage.
Mourão, Rita's friend, commended Simão to the captain. Mourão asked the captain for a place on deck and at the table for Simão. Mourão gave Simão the gold sent by his mother, Rita. Simão told the captain to distribute the gold among the convicts.
“Are you mad?” Mourão asked. “I have the madness of dignity,” Simão replied. Dignity had already ruined him; he wanted to know its limit. He accepted only heartfelt charity, not charity given from duty. He did not know who had sent the money. “It was your mother,” Mourão explained. “I have no mother; return the rejected charity,” Simão said. Mourão refused. Simão demanded its distribution or he would throw the gold into the river. The captain agreed, and Mourão left astonished.
Simão asked Mariana where Monchique was. She pointed to the convent above the Douro. Behind the viewing gallery bars, Simão saw Teresa. Teresa received the farewell the previous day. She replied with a braid of hair.
The previous evening, Teresa asked for the sacraments and received communion. She spent part of the night by the altar; her aunt prayed. She asked to be taken to the window; she felt no cold. She calmly said farewell to all the nuns. She kissed each sick nun in her cell.
The others tried to encourage her; Teresa merely smiled. At dawn, she read Simão's letters. The letters from the Mondego made her weep for the happiness they had expected. She remembered joys, sorrows and hopes. She tied the letters with silk ribbons taken from the sprigs of wilted flowers. Simão threw those flowers into Teresa's room two years earlier. Now the petals were crumbling. “Like my life,” she wept, kissing the flowers. She gave Constança the letters with an instruction for later.
She prayed for half an hour, leaning over a chair. She rose, accepted broth and murmured, “For the journey.” At nine in the morning, Teresa asked Constança to accompany her to the viewing gallery. She sat in anguish without taking her eyes off the ship.
She saw the convicts board, tied in pairs. Teresa fainted briefly; the light left her eyes. Then Simão saw Teresa. The beggar woman from Viseu brought Simão a small packet of letters by boat. From the smooth paper, Simão recognised another person's letter and did not open it.
The order came to raise anchor and cast off the moorings. Simão stood by the ship's rail, watching the viewing gallery. Teresa waved a handkerchief; Simão answered. The ship passed before the convent, heading towards the sea. Teresa's face, behind the bars, looked like a corpse. Simão asked whether it was Teresa; Mariana confirmed that it was her. Mariana feared that Simão would die soon after Teresa. The handkerchief stopped; arms moved, and Teresa and Constança disappeared.
The ship stopped off Sobreiras. A cloud and sudden rough waves made the captain suspend the departure at the river mouth. The pilot ordered them to anchor; they would leave only the next day. Simão watched the empty gallery until the last light faded.
At dusk, the captain returned from shore in tears. Simão watched stars above the viewing gallery. The captain asked whether he was seeking Teresa in heaven. Without understanding, Simão repeated the question: “Am I seeking her in heaven?” “Teresa must be in heaven,” the captain said. Simão asked whether Teresa had died. The captain confirmed it: Teresa died in the viewing gallery after waving to Simão.
Simão bent over the ship's rail and stared into the river. The captain caught him, urged courage and spoke of God. The captain said that Teresa's prayers would open heaven for Simão. Mariana stood behind him with her hands raised. “Everything is over; I am free to die,” Simão murmured. Then he stated, “I shall not kill myself; you may release me.” The captain asked him to go below to the cabin, near him. Simão asked whether it was compulsory. “It is a request, not an order,” the captain explained. Simão agreed and thanked him. Mariana followed Simão with a sad and tender gaze. Simão asked about Mariana; the captain let Mariana follow Simão.
In the cabin, the captain sat opposite Simão; Mariana wept. The captain asked Simão, “Speak and weep.” “I have already wept,” Simão replied. The captain had never imagined such anguish, despite the horrors he had seen. The captain tried to draw out his grief; Simão heard Mariana sob and watched the bundle of letters.
In Miragaia, the captain was told that Teresa had died. The captain asked someone connected with the convent to take him to a nun. With more sobs than words, the nun said that Teresa cried, “Simão, farewell until eternity!” Teresa fell into her maid's arms; the maid cried out, and other women carried Teresa away, half-dead or rather already dead, for she never spoke again. The captain learnt of Teresa's love for Simão, the two years and nine months she spent in the convent, and how deeply she suffered whenever she lost hope. “I shall be unhappy for only a short time,” Simão said.
The captain offered him faithful friends in India. He promised him residence in Goa and a decent start. He asked him not to fear exile, but to live and struggle on. Simão asked for silence. The captain said it was too soon to plan the future, apologised and offered friendship. Simão accepted the friendship and called Mariana.
Mariana entered the cabin. Simão called Mariana his providence, help from God; she kept him from hunger during two years and nine months in prison. Mariana sold everything to feed and clothe Simão. Simão presented Mariana to the captain: she was going with him, pure and worthy of respect. If he died, Simão asked the captain to protect Mariana as though she were his sister. Simão asked the captain to protect Mariana throughout the return voyage if she wished to return. Simão gave the captain his hand and asked him to promise that protection. “I swear it,” the captain replied.
The captain went up to the deck, leaving them together. Simão said he was at peace about Mariana. She replied that she was already at peace. They remained silent for a long time. Simão rested his face on the table and pressed the sides of his head. Mariana watched the lamp; both of them thought about death. The north-east wind whistled through the sails like a moan.