Dom Casmurro

by Machado de Assis


Previous Chapter Next Chapter

XVIII - A Plan


Pae and mother did not come to us, when Capitú and I, in the parlor, were talking about the seminary. With my eyes on me, Capitú wanted to know what news I was so struck with. When I told him what it was, he made himself cry.

-But I do not want to, I go soon, I do not want to go to seminars; I do not go in, it's excused to be with me, I do not go in.

Capitú, he did not say anything at first. He gathered his eyes, brought them to himself, and allowed himself to be with the vacant, deaf pupillas, his mouth open, all still. So I, to give strength to the affirmations, began to swear that I would not be a priest. At that time he swore very hard, for life and for death. I swore by the hour of death. May the light fail me at the hour of death if I went to the seminary. Capitú did not seem to believe or disbelieve, he did not seem to even hear; was a stick figure. Quiz chamal-a, shake it, but it missed me cheer up. This creature who had played with me, who had jumped, dansára, I believe until he had slept with me, left me now with arms tied and fearful. At last he returned to himself, but his face was livid, and he broke into these angry words:

-Beat! Carola! potato mastiff!

I was stunned. Capitú was so fond of my mother, and my mother della, that I could not understand such an explosion. It is true that he also liked me, and of course more, or rather, or rather, much to explain the spite that brought him the threat of separation; but the insults, how to understand that he called her names so ugly, and especially to depress religious customs, which were his? That she too went to mass, and three or four times my mother took her to our old house. He had also given her a rosary, a gold cross, and a book of Hours... Perhaps he defended her, but Capitú did not leave me, he continued to call her blessed and carola, in a voice so loud that I was afraid to be heard by the parents. I've never seen her so angry; seemed inclined to say everything to everyone. He would close his teeth, shake his head ... I, scared, did not know what to do; repeated the oaths, promised to go that very night to declare at home that, for nothing in this world, he would enter the seminary.

-You? You enter.

- I'm not coming in.

"You'll see if he comes in or not."

He paused again. When he spoke again, he had changed; it was not even the usual Capitú, but almost. He was serious, without affliction, he spoke quietly. Maybe I know the conversation in my house; I told her everything except the part that concerned her.

"And what interest does José Dias have in remembering this?" he asked me in the end.

-I think none; it was only to do evil. He is a very bad fellow; but, let me be. When I am the owner of the house, whoever goes to the street is him, you will see; I do not stay for an instant. Mom is too good; it gives you extra attention. It seems she even cried.

-José Dias?

"No, Mother.

"Why?"

-Do not know; I only heard that she did not cry, that it was not a crying thing.... She was repentant and went away; I then, to avoid being caught, I left the corner and ran to the porch. But, let it be, that he pays me!

I said this by clenching my fist, and uttered other threats. As I recall them, I do not think it is ridiculous; adolescence and childhood are not at this point ridiculous; and one of its privileges. This evil or this danger begins in youth, grows in the madurera and attains the greatest grain in old age. At the age of fifteen, there is even a certain grace to threaten much and not to do anything.

Capitú reflected. Reflection was not uncommon in her, and occasion was known by the tightness of her eyes. He asked me for a few more circumstances, the words of each other, and the tone of them. Since I did not want to say the starting point of the conversation, which was itself, I could not give it any meaning. The attention of Capitú was now particularly on my mother's tears; he did not quite understand them. In the midst of this, he confessed that it was certainly not evil that my mother wanted to make me a priest; was the old promise, which she, God-fearing, could not fail to fulfill. I was so pleased to see that he so spontaneously repaired the insults that came from his chest shortly before I took it from her hand and squeezed it. Capitú let himself go, laughing; then the conversation went to doze and sleep. We had arrived at the window; a black man, who had been proclaiming coconut for some time, stopped in front and asked:

"Little sister, what's cooking today?"

"No," said Captain.

- That's good.

"Go away," she replied nonchalantly.

"Give it!" I said, lowering my arm for two.

I bought them, but I had to eat them alone; Capitú refused. I saw that in the midst of the crisis I kept a corner for the cocadas, which could be both perfection and imperfection, but the moment is not for such definitions; let's face it, that my friend, who was well balanced and lucid, did not want to know about candy, and she was very fond of candy. On the contrary, the proclamation that black was singing, the prégon of the old afternoons, so familiar with the neighborhood and our childhood:

Cry, girl, cry,

Cry because you do not have

Come,

so as to leave him with an annoyed impression, Of the toada was not; she knew it from the distance and from the distance, she used it in our childish games, laughing, jumping, changing roles with me, sometimes selling, or buying an absent candy. I believe that the letter, intended to sting the children's vanity, was that it angered her now, because soon she told me:

"If I were rich, you would run away, get in the pack and go to Europe."

Having said that, he looked at me, but I believe they did not tell him anything, or just thanked him for his good intentions. Indeed, the feeling was so friendly that I could excuse the extraordinary of the adventure.

As you can see, at the age of fourteen, Capitú had bold ideas, much less than others that came later; but they were only daring in themselves, in practice they became habeis, sinuous, deaf, and reached the proposed end, not of jumping, but of the bumps. I do not know if I explain myself well. It supposes a large conception executed by small means. So if I could not get out of the vague and hypothetical desire to send me to Europe, Captain, if I could carry it out, he would not have me embark on the package and flee; I would extend a line of canoes from here to there, where I, seeming to go to the fortress of Lage on a quick bridge, would actually go to Bordéos, leaving my mother on the beach, waiting. Such was the particular feature of my friend's character; so it is no wonder that, fighting my plans of frank resistance, it was rather by the mild means, by the action of commitment, by the word, by the slow and daily persuasion, and to examine first the people with whom we could count. Uncle Cosimo snapped; it was a "good life"; if I did not approve of my ordination, I could not take a step to suspend it. Prima Justina was better than him, and better than the two would be Father Cabral, by authority, but the priest was not to work against the church; only if I confessed that I had no vocation ....

"Can I confess?"

"Well, yes, but it would be straightforward, and the best is another." José Dias ....

-What about José Dias?

-lt can be a good effort.

-But if it was he who spoke ...

"It does not matter," continued Capitú; will now say another thing. Elle likes you very much. Do not tell him shy. All is that you are not afraid, show that you have to become the owner of the house, show that you want and that you can. Let him well understand that it is not favor. Make him praise too; He is very fond of being praised. D. Gloria pays attention to him; but the main thing is not this; is that he, having to serve you, will speak with much more heat than another.

-I do not think so. No, Capitú.

"Then go to the seminary."

-Not that.

-But what do you miss in trying? Let's try; Do as I tell you. D. Gloria might change resolution; if it does not change, another thing is done, then Father Cabral will be put in. " Do not you remember how you went to theatro for the first time, two months ago? D. Gloria did not want to, and that was enough for José Dias not to be stubborn; but he wanted to go, and made a speech, remember?

"Remind me; said that the theater was a school of customs.

-Fair; both said that his mother finally consented, and paid the entrance to the two .... Go, ask, send. Look; tell him that he is going to study law in Sao Paulo.

I shuddered with pleasure. St. Paul was a fragile screen, destined to be wiped out one day, instead of the thick spiritual and eternal wall. Prometti to speak to José Dias in the proposed terms. Capitú repeated them, accentuating some, as princes; and then inquired about them, to see if he understood well, if he had not exchanged for each other. And he insisted that I ask him with a good face, but like someone who asks for a glass of water, the person who is obliged to bring it. I count these minutiae so that it is better understood that morning of my friend; And the evening shall come, and the morning and the evening shall be made the first day, as in the Genesis, where there were seven.

 

Return to the Dom Casmurro Summary Return to the Machado de Assis Library

© 2022 AmericanLiterature.com