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In 1779, Domingos José Correia Botelho was a judge in Cascais. He came from an old noble family in Vila Real. For ten years, he tried to win Rita Preciosa's love. Rita was a beautiful lady at the court of Queen Maria I. She was proud of her origins and her life at the palace.
Domingos was not handsome, rich or very intelligent. His former classmates even gave him an unkind nickname. However, he played the flute extremely well. In Coimbra, he once lived on the money he earned from music. Later, he managed to enter the royal court and please the Queen.
With the help of that protection, Domingos married Rita Preciosa. The marriage brought together two very different people. Rita missed Lisbon, its festivities and its royal rooms. She did not find happiness in life with her husband. Even so, the couple formed a large family.
Manoel was the eldest son, and Simão was the second boy. Among the daughters, the narrator names Maria, Ana and Rita. The younger Rita was the daughter, not the mother Rita Preciosa. The narrator says that Simão was born in Lisbon in 1784.
Soon afterwards, Domingos obtained a post in Vila Real. The old local nobility came out to welcome the family. There were sedan chairs with coats of arms, servants and old clothes. Rita observed everything through her large gold eyeglass. She asked whether time had stopped there in the twelfth century. She also mocked the old sedan chair and the welcoming bells.
The family house seemed old, cold and unsafe to her. She complained about rats, winter and the weak walls. Domingos agreed to build a new house for his wife. His money was not enough to finish the building work. The Queen therefore sent him more money.
Even the window balconies were a royal gift. The couple then argued about the coat of arms for the house. Domingos had already ordered his family's arms to be made. Rita demanded that her family's arms should appear as well. In the end, the house had no coat of arms, and Rita won.
Pride was present even in the family's small affairs. Rita received noble relatives but looked down on them. Domingos knew that he was ugly and saw his wife's beauty. He felt jealous, although he hid his doubts. Her pride and his fear created distance in the marriage. The family later lived in Lamego, where Rita remained unhappy. In 1801, Domingos was a senior magistrate in Viseu, and the household remained divided.
Manoel, now an adult, was studying Law in Coimbra. Simão also studied in that city, but he had a violent temper. Manoel wrote to his father because he was afraid of his brother. He said that Simão threatened him and looked for fights at night. Simão spent the money meant for books on pistols.
He kept company with the students best known for causing trouble. His mother was alarmed, but Domingos admired Simão's courage. Manoel left Coimbra and became a cavalry cadet in Bragança. Simão returned to Viseu after passing his examinations. His father recognised his intelligence and excused some of his bad behaviour.
Simão was a strong adolescent and looked older. He had his mother's beauty and physical strength. However, his character was very different from hers. He chose his friends among the poor people of Viseu. Rita Preciosa thought that these friendships were unworthy of the family. Simão answered stories about noble ancestors with mockery.
That attitude against aristocratic pride drove him away from his mother. Domingos sided with his wife and also became angry with Simão. His sisters were afraid of Simão, except Rita, the youngest. With that sister, he played and showed tenderness. He even obeyed when she asked him to change the company he kept.
At the end of the holidays, a fight took place by the fountain. A Botelho servant took the animals to drink water. Some vessels placed at the fountain were broken. The text does not know whether this happened by accident or on purpose. The owners of the vessels gathered together and beat the servant. Simão passed by at that moment and saw the attack.
He pulled a strong pole from a cart and attacked the group. He injured many people and smashed all the water jars. The crowd fled because nobody wanted to face the senior magistrate's son. The servant had suffered an injustice, but Simão responded with excessive violence.
The injured people went to ask for justice at Domingos's door. Furious, his father ordered Simão's arrest. Rita Preciosa was angry too, but she acted as a mother. She secretly sent money to her son through a back door. She told him to flee at once to Coimbra and wait for his father's forgiveness. Domingos pretended that he wanted to capture him when he discovered his wife's help. Rita called her husband's revenge brutal and his judgement absurd. The magistrate then dropped his rather insincere severity.