Dragon's Teeth by Eça de Queirós

AT about this time Luiza awoke, and as she hastily sat up in bed, thought, --

"It is to-day."

A horrible sensation of dread and anguish seized upon her heart. She began to dress herself, trembling at the thought of seeing Juliana again. She had just come to the determination to remain in her room, without going to breakfast, till eleven o'clock, and then to go see Bazilio at his hotel, when she heard the voice of Joanna, calling outside the door, --

"Senhora!"

The girl entered in a fright, saying that Juliana had left the house early in the morning, that she had not yet returned, and that her work was undone.

"Very well; get me some breakfast; I will be there directly."

What a relief! She took it for granted that Juliana had left the house finally. With what object? To concoct some plot, doubtless. Her best course was to go at once to their place of meeting, and wait there for Bazilio. She went to the dining-room and drank a glass of water hastily, without sitting down.

"Could the Senhora Juliana have been taken sick? " Joanna came to ask her.

"We shall soon know," responded Luiza.

At half-past one she put on her hat. Her heart beat violently; notwithstanding her dread of seeing Juliana in case she should return, she could not resolve to leave her home -- forever! She sat down, with her morocco satchel in her lap.

"But why delay? " she said to herself at last, rising, as if impelled by some invisible and irresistible force. She went into her bedroom; her wrapper and slippers were lying on the rug.

"What a misfortune! " she said to herself, as she picked them up mechanically. She went to her dressing-table, opened the drawer and put away the combs; then went hastily into the parlor, took Jorge's likeness out of the album, and put it, with a trembling hand, into the satchel. She glanced wildly around, left the room, and ran downstairs.

A coupé was driving along the Patriarchal. She stopped it, and entering, told the coachman to drive to the Central Hotel.

Senhor Brito had gone out early in the morning, the porter obsequiously informed her, when she reached the hotel. A vessel had apparently just arrived, for men were carrying into the hotel luggage, trunks covered with oil-cloth, and boxes bound with iron. Some of the passengers, not yet recovered from the effects of the sea-sickness, and a little bewildered by the novelty of their surroundings, were talking and giving directions to the servants all at once. The bustle revived Luiza's spirits; she felt a sudden desire to travel, to witness the excitement and confusion of the railway-stations at night, by gaslight; to see gay groups seated on the deck of the steamer in the morning. She told the coachman to drive to the house where she was to meet Bazilio. As she drove on, it seemed to her as if all her past existence, Juliana and her domestic life, were fading away before her gaze from a horizon which she was to leave forever behind her. At the door of a bookseller's shop she caught a glimpse of Julião, and she drew back hastily into a corner of the coupé; she could not see him distinctly, and she regretted it. She was going away without seeing a single friend of the house. They all, Julião, Ernesto, the counsellor, Donna Felicidade, appeared to her now adorable, possessed of noble qualities that hitherto she had not suspected in them, and suddenly endowed with peculiar charms. And poor Sebastião, who was so good! Never again should she hear him play the _malaguenha_!

At the end of Ouro Street the coupé was stopped by a number of vehicles blocking up the way, and Luiza saw, standing close to her, Castro, -- Castro of the eye-glasses, the banker who Leopoldina had said was in love with her; a boy was trying to sell him a lottery ticket, and Castro, his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, was joking with the urchin with the disdainful familiarity of a rich man, and casting furtive glances at Luiza, at the same time, from behind his gold eye-glasses. She stole a glance at him from under her long lashes. This man admired her. How horrible! He inspired her with repugnance, with his prominent paunch and his short legs. The recollection of Bazilio's handsome face came vividly to her mind, and she tapped at the carriage-window, impatient to see him once more.

The coupé at last drove on. The sun shone brightly as they drove through Rocio; the passengers were disembarking hurriedly from the steamboat, -- some from Belem, others from Pedroucos; the hucksters were crying aloud their wares. Every one was returning to home and happiness; she only was leaving both.

At last the coupé stopped. The mistress of the house appeared at the door, saying she was very sorry, but the gentleman had the keys of the apartment, and if the senhora wished to rest a few moments in her room -- At this moment another carriage drove up, and Bazilio descended from it.

"So you have come at last! " he exclaimed, as they entered the house together and went upstairs. "And why did you not come yesterday?"

"Ah, if you knew what has happened!"

He caught her by the arm and looked at her intently.