Dragon's Teeth by Eça de Queirós

WHEN Luiza returned home, Juliana, who had not yet changed her dress, said to her at the door, --

"Senhor Sebastião is in the parlor. He has been waiting a long time; for he was here when I got back."

He had been waiting, in fact, for half an hour. When Joanna, her face flushed, and looking as if she had been suddenly roused from sleep, opened the door for him and told him that her mistress was not at home, Sebastião's first impulse was to go away, pleased at having escaped a difficult task. But he resisted this feeling, entered the house, and waited. He was resolved to speak to Luiza, to warn her that these frequent visits of her cousin in a neighborhood so given to gossips as was hers might compromise her. It was indeed terrible to say this to her; but it was his duty, for her own sake, for her husband's, for the peace of the household. He was obliged to warn her; it was his duty to do so. At this thought his timidity vanished. In the face of an imperious duty he summoned all his energy to his aid. His heart beat a little faster, it is true; he turned pale, but he resolved to warn her. He walked up and down the parlor, with his hands in his pockets, mentally framing sentences that had a friendly and delicate turn. But when the bell rang, and a moment afterwards he heard the rustle of her dress in the hall, his courage collapsed, like a balloon from which the gas has escaped. He ran to the piano and began to play with spirit. When Luiza entered the room, her face flushed, without her hat, and taking off her gloves, he rose, and said, smiling, --

"I have come to chat with you awhile. I waited. Where have you been?"

Luiza seated herself with an air of fatigue. She had been to the dressmaker's, she said. How warm it was! Why did he not come oftener? And a thousand thanks for the flowers! "I receive no visits of ceremony," she added. "Only those of my cousin, who has returned from abroad."

Sebastião remained seated on the piano-stool, and softly rubbed his knees.

"And your cousin, -- is he well? " he asked.

"Quite well," she returned. "He comes here often. The poor fellow is very lonely in Lisbon. He has been accustomed to live abroad."

"True," said Sebastião.

"And Jorge, has he written to you? " asked Luiza.

"I received a letter from him yesterday."

She too had received a letter. They spoke of Jorge, of his _ennui_ in Alemtejo, of the account he gave in his letters of Sebastião's eccentric relative, of the length of time he would still remain away.

"I miss the rascal," said Sebastião.

Luiza coughed; she was slightly pale, and she passed her hand from time to time across her forehead, closing her eyes with an air of weariness.

"I have come, my dear friend -- " Sebastião began abruptly, as if he had adopted a sudden resolution. But seeing her seated on the edge of the sofa, her head bent down, her hand pressed to her eyes, he added, --

"What is the matter with you? Are you in pain?"

"A sudden headache. I felt it coming on in the street."

"And I am troubling her," said Sebastião to himself, taking up his hat. "Do you want anything? " he said aloud. "Do you wish me to go for the doctor?"

"No; I shall lie down awhile, and it will pass away."

Sebastião charged her above all things not to allow herself to get chilled. Perhaps it would be well for her, he added, to apply a mustard plaster, or a couple of slices of lemon, to the temples; and in any case, if she did not feel better, to send for him.