Keys in hand, but not quite as disheveled as the lady in Tolentino’s famous satirical sonnet, Dona Beatriz was bustling back and forth between parlor and kitchen, issuing orders, chivying the slaves, gathering up clean tablecloths and napkins, and dictating shopping lists; in short, dealing with the thousand and one things that every mistress of the house has to deal with, especially on such an important day.

Now and then, Dona Beatriz would go to the foot of the stairs and shout:

“Girls, come down and have your breakfast!”

It seems, though, that the girls were in no hurry, because they only obeyed their mother’s summons when it was past nine o’clock, and she had already called up to them eight times and was even about to climb the stairs to their bedroom—quite a sacrifice for such a plump lady.

The Lemos girls were two dark-haired beauties. One was about twenty, the other seventeen; both were tall and slightly overdressed. The older girl looked somewhat pale, while the other, pink-cheeked and cheerful, came down the stairs singing a popular ballad of the time. Of the two, it would seem that she was the happier one, but this was not the case; the happier sister was the older girl, who, that very day, was to tie the knot with young Luís Duarte, after a long and persistent courtship. She was pale because she had barely slept, even though she had never before suffered from insomnia, but then some illnesses do just come and go.

The two girls came downstairs, received their mother’s blessing as well as a brief telling-off, then went into the parlor to talk to their father. José Lemos, who had just changed the position of the pictures for the seventh time, asked his daughters whether the engraving of Mary Stuart would be better on this side of the sofa or on the other. The girls said it would be best left where it was, and this verdict put an end to all José Lemos’s doubts, and, deeming his work to be done, he went off to have his breakfast.

Also seated at the breakfast table, along with José Lemos, Dona Beatriz, Carlota (the bride), and Luísa, were Rodrigo Lemos and little Antonico, the Lemoses’ two sons. Rodrigo was eighteen and Antonico six; Antonico was a miniature version of Rodrigo, with whom he shared another brotherly trait, that of extreme idleness. From eight o’clock in the morning on, Rodrigo was to be found doing one of two things: either reading the advertisements in the newspaper or going into the kitchen to find out when breakfast would be served. As for Antonico, he, as usual, had eaten a large plate of porridge at six o’clock, and then slept peacefully until the nursemaid called him.