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The story now returns to Marta, José and Zeferino. The false court at Calvos had already fallen. Zeferino left Cerveira Lobo in Quadros with the three contos de réis. Then he returned to Lamelas and arrived at night so that no one would see him. Before that, he had told the neighbours that he was already a sergeant-major. He had also claimed that his father was a retired colonel. Zeferino had threatened José Dias and his father. He also spoke badly of Marta because he could not control his passion. He still felt humiliated because Marta had laughed at him. At home, his father told him to abandon politics and return to working as a mason.
Zeferino learnt that José spent a great deal of time in Prazins. José had gone with Marta and Simeão to the Santiago da Cruz fair. At dawn, the three of them drank coffee at a stall. Marta and José spoke quietly, sitting very close together. Beside them, Simeão was dozing. José's parents were prosperous farmers from Vilalva. The large farm made José a highly desirable husband. José loved Marta with the tenderness of first love. Marta loved him too and admired his pale face. Their relationship was tender, but Marta was in a vulnerable position.
José promised Marta that she would become his wife. Marta immediately told her father about the promise. Simeão was pleased and embraced his future son-in-law. But José's parents told their son to choose another woman. In their opinion, Marta's social position was not good enough for José. His mother, Maria de Vilalva, refused to accept Marta as a daughter-in-law. Maria repeated cruel stories about Genoveva, Marta's mother. She said that Genoveva had deceived her husband and lived badly. She also spoke of a friar, possession and madness. Finally, she recalled that Genoveva had thrown herself into the River Ave. Maria also told strange stories about Marta's grandfather. She used all this to say that Marta came from a bad family. Those accusations did not prove any fault in Marta. Joaquim told his son that he would do whatever his wife decided. In private, however, Joaquim told Maria never to accept the marriage.
Maria displayed very strict religious devotion. She went to Mass, prayed often and helped missionaries. At the same time, she condemned neighbours who were less devout. José thought that his mother's religion might force her to consent. He then had the wrongful idea of compromising Marta's honour. He hoped that marriage could repair that intimacy. Father Osório said that the aim of marriage was honourable. But the priest said that the means were wrong. Osório explained that Maria would despise Marta even more. Maria's outward devotion would not protect the young woman. Osório's advice was wise, but it came too late.
A mason's assistant worked with Master Zeferino. One day, the assistant told him what he had seen on a moonlit night. The moonlight was so bright that the man thought morning had come. He got up and began walking to work. As he passed Simeão's house, he heard the clock strike two. He also saw light through the cracks of a window. The assistant hid beneath the branches of an oak tree. He thought of witches and Genoveva's spirit. Those fears were the assistant's beliefs, not facts. The light disappeared and then appeared at another window. Finally, the light reached a low window. A man could reach that window with the handle of an axe.
The light went out and the window opened. The window had shutters but no glass. The moon lit everything as though it were daytime. The assistant remained hidden in the darkness. He saw a head appear and then half of a man's body. The man sat on the sill and looked both ways. Then he listened and climbed down very slowly without making a sound. He hung from the sill and dropped to his feet. Immediately afterwards, the window closed. In the moonlight, the assistant recognised José Dias with complete certainty. José's rubber shoes shone in the moonlight. José then set off along the road to Vilalva. The assistant saw José and the window, but he did not see Marta. Nor did he see any intimate act.
The narrator recalls a religious book by Manuel Bernardes. Through that reference, he says only that José knew Marta's bed. The text leaves the intimacy implicit and does not describe what happened.
The news struck Zeferino like a knife in the chest. The assistant saw him sit on a stone he had been cutting. Zeferino hid his face in his hands and began to cry. He remembered loving Marta since first seeing her when she was thirteen. That was an old memory, not Marta's age at this time. Zeferino said that he had worked and stolen so that he could pay Marta's father for her. He spoke of one conto and five hundred, with a little more money. In his unjust view, he treated Marta as someone he could buy. He had entered politics to appear superior to the student. The fall of the false king had destroyed those hopes. Even so, Cerveira told him that the real Dom Miguel would come the following spring. Cerveira claimed to have received that news from Father Rocha. At last, Zeferino stood up and wiped away his tears. He picked up his tools and went on working. As he worked, he whistled a sad song about the sea.
The whistling now announced a desire for revenge. Zeferino directed his anger at José, not at Marta. He continued to imagine Marta as the pure young woman of his memory. From that hour, he thought of killing José Dias. However, the narrator says that he did not have the courage to kill. Two students had already beaten him without suffering revenge. Nor had he attacked José when the dog tore his trousers. Zeferino imagined terrible violence, but he did nothing.
Later, the same assistant told many people about his discovery. He told everyone that it was a secret. The parish repeated the story and destroyed Marta's reputation. The women added old stories against Genoveva and the family to the report. Those people insulted Marta because of conduct attributed to her female ancestors. The neighbours also laughed at Zeferino. Two possible matches with prosperous women farmers had arisen for him. He said that he would die unmarried after killing a man. Someone claimed to have seen him with a blunderbuss outside Simeão's house. The narrator declares that the blunderbuss story was a slander.
Maria heard that Zeferino was preparing an ambush. She therefore made José sleep in an attic with no window through which he could escape. Every night, Maria locked the door from the outside. Maria cursed Marta and then went to pray.
José Dias lived in sadness and bitterness. He had grown up with great respect for his parents and could not oppose them. An illness in his chest was beginning to weaken his body. The illness also drained his courage and energy. José spent many hours with Father Osório. He asked the priest to find a way for the marriage to take place. José feared that he would not live much longer. He wanted to marry in order to repair the harm he had done to Marta. Marta wrote letters to José in Caldelas. A boy carried the letters in secret. When Maria saw the boy, she tried to strike him with a farm tool. In her letters, Marta expressed fear of being abandoned. Marta often wrote through her tears. Simeão did not punish his daughter because of the relationship. On the contrary, he spoke of a rich uncle who might help Marta. A returned emigrant said that this uncle had at least four hundred strong contos. The fortune was only a report passed on by another person. Sometimes Marta hid herself away to cry. At those moments, she remembered her mother's suicide. Marta looked at the River Ave and listened to the sound of the water. She thought about Genoveva's fate, but she did not try to throw herself into the river.
José told Marta about his illness and loss of strength. He no longer had the strength to go hunting. He felt abandoned by his family and was beginning to hate his mother. He also said that he missed Marta deeply. Father Osório was trying to obtain permission from José's father. If his father refused, José planned to run away with Marta. He would have only the few resources that Osório could lend him. From time to time, José visited Marta during the day. Maria watched her son and continued to blame Marta. A surgeon had discreetly mentioned the sixth commandment. Maria and the neighbours said that sexual misconduct had caused the illness. That explanation was village gossip, not a proven medical cause. Some neighbours recommended eight days of hard work as a cure. Several months passed and spring arrived. José's health then seemed better. José attributed the improvement to happiness. With help from Osório and the civil governor, Joaquim consented to the marriage. Maria continued to refuse the match. They hoped that some missionaries might still persuade her. Marta therefore recovered some hope, but the marriage was not certain.
Zeferino remained sad and often visited Cerveira in Quadros. He always asked when the real Dom Miguel would arrive. Cerveira was connected to the Septembrists and other enemies of the Cabrals. Those groups had drawn closer after the bloody elections of 1845. Cerveira was gathering guns in Quadros. He also provided money to make ammunition near Póvoa de Lanhoso and Guimarães. Father Rocha brought Cerveira news sent from London. Rocha also helped Cerveira to receive an honour from the Order of Saint Michael of the Wing. The weapons foreshadowed a revolt, but it had not yet begun. Zeferino awaited revenge like a tiger hiding before its leap. When he thought of José Dias, he smiled and ground his teeth.