Bel studied Maria Elisa as she sat watching a hummingbird dart through the trees. Her demeanour, as always, was serene, like a pool of calm water without a ripple on its surface. Whereas she herself was like a waterfall roaring down the mountains and crashing onto the rocks below.

‘I wish I was more like you, Maria Elisa. You’re so sensible.’

‘No, just accepting. But then, Bel, I don’t have your fire or your beauty.’

‘Don’t be silly. You are one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out.’ Bel reached spontaneously to hug her. ‘Thank you for your advice and help. You are a true friend.’

An hour later, Heitor da Silva Costa, Maria Elisa’s father, arrived at the front door of Mansão da Princesa. Gabriela opened it and Bel and Maria Elisa, secreted beside the door in the morning room, listened as he asked if Antonio was at home.

Bel had never exchanged more than a few pleasantries with Senhor da Silva Costa at various social gatherings, but she had liked what she had seen. She thought him a very handsome man, with his fine features and pale blue eyes that often seemed to drift away from his surroundings to another place. Perhaps, she thought, to the top of the Corcovado Mountain and the monumental figure of Christ he was constructing.

Bel breathed a sigh of relief as her father appeared from his study and greeted Heitor warmly, though with a little surprise, in the hall. What gave her hope was the fact that she knew Antonio respected Heitor, for not only was he from an old Portuguese family, but due to the Cristo project, he had recently become something of a celebrity in Rio.

The two girls heard their fathers walk into the drawing room and shut the door behind them.

‘I can’t bear it,’ said Bel, sinking down into a chair. ‘My whole future depends on this conversation.’

‘You’re so dramatic, Bel,’ smiled Maria Elisa. ‘Really, I’m sure everything will be fine.’

Twenty minutes later and still in an agony of suspense, Bel heard the drawing room door open and the two men emerge, chatting about the Cristo.

‘Any time you wish to come up the mountain and see what I have planned for it, do let me know,’ Heitor was saying. ‘Now, I must find my daughter and take her home.’

‘Of course.’ Antonio signalled for Gabriela to find Maria Elisa. ‘It is a pleasure to see you, senhor, and I thank you for your kind offer.’

‘Not at all. Ah, there you are, Maria Elisa. We must hurry as I have a meeting scheduled at five in the city. Adeus, Senhor Bonifacio.’

As father and daughter turned to leave the house, Maria Elisa gave Bel, who was hovering at the end of the hallway, a shrug of uncertainty. Then she disappeared through the front door.

Bel watched her father pause for a few seconds then turn around to walk back to his study. Seeing her standing there, her face a picture of anxiety, he shook his head and sighed heavily.