Selecione uma frase portuguesa para revelar o apoio em inglês.
Toque numa frase portuguesa para revelar o apoio em inglês; toque novamente ou fora da frase para o fechar.
Com o teclado, coloque o foco numa frase ou ative-a. Prima Escape para fechar o apoio em inglês.
Agitated news was arriving from the Alto Minho. Cristóvão Bezerra wrote to his cousin Barrimão about a rumour. According to the rumour, Dom Miguel was hiding nearby. Cristóvão did not present this as a certain fact. First, he wanted to know whether Barrimão understood the letters' secret code. Barrimão distrusted the post and sent his godson Zeferino with an important letter. Zeferino felt very proud, although he did not know his godfather's secret. He only guessed that Dom Miguel might be nearby. He presented that idea to his father, Gaspar, only as a guess. Gaspar drank spirits and began shouting that the king had arrived. The narrator turns his excitement into physical comedy. Zeferino became angry because a secret messenger should not cause so much noise.
Zeferino then rode to Santa Marta de Bouro. As he passed Simeão, he gave him a hostile sideways look. He also lowered his iron-shod staff beside his leg. Zeferino continued on his way. Simeão waited until he was out of sight. Then he muttered a curse against him. Cristóvão welcomed Gaspar's son and heard the story of 1838. He then claimed that Dom Miguel was nearby and would give Zeferino an army rank. Zeferino wanted to send him money, but Cristóvão refused the donation. Cristóvão said that he had no authority to receive that money.
The new letter was clearer, but it still contained only claims. It said that Dom Miguel was hiding in the house of the abbot of Calvos. It also said that foreign generals would enter through Galicia. Barrimão and his brother, Friar Gervásio, found the story suspicious. They thought that someone might want to steal the supporters' money. They therefore asked military supporters of Dom Miguel for information. The officers replied that there were political plans, but the king was not in Portugal. Barrimão showed these letters to Zeferino and urged him to be cautious. Even so, Zeferino continued to believe in the hidden king. He said that Vasco Cerveira Lobo also believed in that presence.
Cristóvão insisted that he had kissed the king's hand on 16 April 1845. He claimed that he recognised Dom Miguel from a portrait and from the way he walked. Barrimão and Friar Gervásio did not accept that story as proof. Other correspondents again denied that the king was in Calvos. However, they advised the brothers to let the agitation grow. That agitation could prepare a future political attempt. Friar Gervásio called the possible impostor a forerunner. The irony shows that they tolerated a useful fraud without having created it. The man's identity remained unproved. Barrimão warned Zeferino to wait for the Portuguese generals before acting.
Amid these rumours, Zeferino stopped working as a stonemason. He began visiting his godfather and another Legitimist leader. That leader was Vasco Cerveira Lobo, the landowner of Quadros. Cerveira had lived shut away in the old house since the defeat at Évora Monte. He felt that his military and political career had been destroyed. He drank to forget the defeat and had already suffered a stroke. The narrator presents this pain but also judges his choices harshly.
Cerveira refused to return to court because he did not want to face the liberals. The house and the family became trapped by his pride. He had five children, but he left them dirty and without a proper education. He told Honorata that she should care for the children alone. When she criticised his drinking, he kicked and insulted her. From the window, he shouted obscene remarks at passing girls. He then shut himself in the room beside the wine cellar. Politics, alcohol and violence were destroying the home.
The older sons also began to drink. Heitor was seen in taverns, and his sisters were growing up without religious instruction. People compared this disorder with the respect the family once received. In the village, people spoke about the fall of that noble house. José Dias made jokes, and Rosa de Carude scolded him. Some people blamed Honorata for leaving the five children. Others said that she had good reason to flee from Cerveira. The village's opinion was therefore divided. There was also a rumour that Cerveira had taken part in an old murder. The narrator does not confirm that rumour as fact.
The narrator first says that Honorata accepted Cerveira when he was rich. This was the narrator's initial explanation. The village talk did not reveal all of Honorata's private motives. Her escape with Adolfo Silveira was already known in the village.
The narrator goes back to explain Honorata's escape. Honorata visited only Andresa, the sister of the lawyer Adolfo Silveira. She wept with her friend and asked for help to obtain a legal separation. She said that she might throw herself into a cistern if she found no way out. Andresa asked her brother to hear about Honorata's situation. Adolfo was a lawyer, but he also wrote very romantic stories. The narrator mocks his grand and dramatic phrases.
Andresa told Adolfo about the drinking, the mistresses and the neglect of the children. Honorata said that her family had forced the marriage on her. According to her, they used her grief over another love and married her off quickly. She also said that Cerveira had always been violent and unfaithful. Honorata had five children, but she rejected the idea that she had to love them simply because she was their mother in that marriage. This statement belongs to Honorata and is not a truth imposed by the narrator. Other villagers expressed different views about the children.
Adolfo became fascinated by Honorata's beauty and words. He spoke of her like a heroine from the books he read. The narrator shows that his emotion was real but also exaggerated. Andresa interrupted his excitement and asked about the legal solution. She also wanted to know how Honorata could live after the separation. Adolfo promised to study the case, but he began delaying the proceedings. He wanted to stay near Honorata without revealing the new love. Andresa did not approve of a relationship with a married woman.
Honorata began to appear happier and more carefully dressed. She and Adolfo exchanged secret letters every day. A woman connected to both households carried the letters. In the morning, Adolfo climbed the hill and looked towards the house at Quadros. Honorata appeared in a tower and watched him through binoculars. The narrator describes this image as a scene from a romantic ballad. Once again, irony accompanies their desire.
After two weeks, two horses arrived at Ponte de Brito. One of them had a woman's saddle. Near midnight, Honorata and Adolfo reached the bridge. They felt joy and fear at the same time. Adolfo helped Honorata mount and got onto the other horse. He then told the guides a destination that the narrator does not reveal. They rode away at a broad trot along the road towards Porto. The escape succeeded, but it left five children in the ruined house. Honorata's departure shows an alternative to the forced marriage. Even so, the narrator does not turn the escape into a simple solution.