It would have been far better had Dona Beatriz, like other mothers, offered advice drawn from her own heart and experience. Maternal love is the best rhetoric in the world, but Senhor José Lemos, who, ever since he was a young man, had preserved a certain literary bent, felt that, on such a solemn occasion, it would be wrong to run the risk of his better half making any grammatical errors.

Dona Beatriz resumed her speech, which was not that long, and concluded by asking if Carlota really did love her fiancé and was not, as did occasionally happen, getting married out of pique. Carlota replied that she loved her fiancé as dearly as she loved her parents, and the mother then kissed her daughter with a tenderness not provided for in José Lemos’s prose.

At about two o’clock in the afternoon, José Lemos returned, dripping with sweat, but feeling very pleased with himself, because, as well as carrying out all his wife’s errands as regards carriages, hairdressers, etc., he had managed to persuade Lieutenant Porfírio to join them for supper, something which, up until then, had been by no means certain.

Lieutenant Porfírio was what you might call an after-dinner speaker, possessing, as he did, the necessary confidence, fluency, and wit for the task. These fine gifts brought Lieutenant Porfírio certain benefits: he rarely dined at home on Sundays or on public holidays. You invited Lieutenant Porfírio on the tacit understanding that he would make a speech, just as you would expect a guest who was also a musician to play something. Lieutenant Porfírio came between dessert and coffee, and he did not come cheap, either; for if he was a good speaker, he was an even better trencherman. All things considered, his speech was amply paid for by the supper.

In the three days prior to the wedding, there had been much debate about whether the supper should precede the ceremony or vice versa. The bride’s father felt that the ceremony should come after supper, and he was supported in this by young Rodrigo, who, with a wisdom worthy of a statesman, realized that, otherwise, supper would be very late. Dona Beatriz, however, thought it odd to go to church on a full stomach. This view had no theological or disciplinary basis, but Dona Beatriz had her own particular views on church matters, and she prevailed.

At around four o’clock, the guests began to arrive.

The first were the Vilela family, comprising Justiniano Vilela, a retired civil servant, Dona Margarida, his wife, and Dona Augusta, their niece.