There I was, at sixteen years of age, all on my own, friendless and penniless. A canon at the Imperial Chapel tried to get me employment as a sacristan, but although I had often served at mass in Mato Grosso and knew some Latin, I was not admitted due to a lack of vacancies. Others encouraged me to study law, and I accepted with grim determination. I even had some help to begin with, and when that stopped, I soldiered on and finally managed to get my bachelor’s degree. Now, don’t tell me that this was an exception in my life of misfortune, because my academic qualification brought me to an even sorrier state of affairs; however, since destiny was determined to punish me whatever my chosen profession, I do not blame my law degree for that. It’s true that I was very pleased to obtain it; my tender age and a certain superstitious belief in the need to improve oneself made of that roll of parchment the diamond key that would open every door to good fortune.

And, to begin with, my bachelor’s degree was not the only piece of paper in my pocket. No, sir; beside it there were ten or fifteen others, the fruits of a love affair begun in Rio de Janeiro during Holy Week of 1842, with a widow seven or eight years my senior, but fiery, good-humored, and rich. She lived with her blind brother on Rua do Conde; I can’t say any more than that. All my friends were aware of this relationship; two of them even read the letters, which I showed them on the pretext of admiring the widow’s elegant style, but really so that they could read the marvelous things she said to me. In everyone’s opinion, our marriage was a certainty, an absolute certainty; the widow was merely waiting for me to finish my studies. When I graduated, one of these friends congratulated me, underlining his certainty with this definitive sentence:

“Your marriage is pure dogma.”

And, laughing, he asked if, on account of that dogma, I could lend him fifty mil-réis, which he needed urgently. I didn’t have fifty mil-réis on me, but that word “dogma” was still reverberating so sweetly within me that I didn’t rest all day until I had obtained the money. I happily took it to him myself, and he received it gratefully. Six months later, it was he who married the widow.