The lady’s irritation had subsided considerably, but her feelings of humiliation remained. Mariana did not wail and weep, as she thought she would, but, thinking it all over, she recalled the simplicity of her request and Conrado’s sarcastic response, and, while she recognized that she had been somewhat demanding, she found no justification whatsoever for such excesses. She paced back and forth, unable to stand still; she went into the drawing room, approached the half-open window, and watched her husband standing in the street waiting for the streetcar, with his back to the house and that eternal, despicable hat on his head. Mariana felt herself overcome with hatred for that ridiculous item; she couldn’t understand how she had put up with it for so many years. And she thought of all those years of docility and acquiescence to her husband’s whims and desires, and wondered if that might not be the very thing that had led to his reaction that morning. She called herself a fool and a ninny; if she had behaved like so many other wives, Clara or Sofia, for example, who treated their husbands as they deserved to be treated, none of this would have happened. One thought led to another, and to the idea of going out. She got dressed and went to visit Sofia, an old school friend, just to clear her head, and certainly not to divulge anything.

Sofia was thirty, two years older than Mariana. She was tall, sturdy, and very sure of herself. She greeted her friend with the usual show of affection and, when Mariana said nothing, she guessed at once that something was very much amiss. Adieu to Mariana’s best intentions! Within twenty minutes she had told her friend everything. Sofia laughed, shrugged her shoulders, and told her it wasn’t her husband’s fault at all.

“Oh, I know, it’s my fault entirely,” agreed Mariana.

“Don’t be silly, my dear! You’ve just been far too soft with him. You must be strong, for once; take no notice; don’t speak to him for a while, and when he comes to patch things up, tell him he must first change his hat.”

“Goodness, but it seems such a trivial thing . . .”