Dom Casmurro

by Machado de Assis

XLVII - "You Left"

"Okay, that's it, I'm done; but explain one thing to me, why did you ask me if I was afraid to get it?

"It was not for nothing," said Capitú, after some hesitation. "Why bother?"

- Always say. Was it because of the seminar?

-Was; I've heard they hit them ... No? I do not think so, either.

The explanation pleased me; he had no other. If, as I think, Capitú did not tell the truth, it is hard to recognize that he could not tell her, and the lie is one of those created who make haste to respond to the visits that "you left", when you do not want to tell anyone . There is in this complicity a particular taste; the peccadillo communes for a moment the condition of the people, not counting the pleasure that gives the face of the deceived visits, and the back with which they descend ... The truth did not leave, stayed at home, in the heart of Capitú, dozing the their repentance. And I did not go down sad or angry; I find the created gallant, appealing, better than the mistress.

The swallows now came in the opposite direction, or they would not be the same. We were the same; there we are dimming our illusions, our fears, beginning to add to our homesickness.