“What did she say, Aunt Joanna?”
The old woman straightened the table-cloth which Sebastião’s hasty movement had disarranged.
“She talked gossip, full of curiosity to know who the young man could be! She says he is good-looking. He goes there every day in a carriage. On Saturday he stayed till evening. There was singing in the parlor, and Gertrudes says that not even in the theatre—”
“It is her cousin,” interrupted Sebastião with impatience. “What of it? It is her cousin who has returned from Brazil.”
Aunt Joanna smiled maliciously.
“I thought he must be a relative; Gertrudes says he is very good-looking. Yes, I thought he must be a relative,” she repeated, going out to the kitchen.
Sebastião breakfasted with a preoccupied mind. If the neighbors should begin to talk about these visits, what a scandal it would cause! Troubled and perplexed, he determined to speak to Julião. He was going down the street of S. Roque towards the house of the latter, when he perceived him coming towards him on the opposite side, with a roll of papers under his arm, his white trousers spattered with mud.
“I was just going to your house,” said Sebastião.
Julião was surprised at the unusual excitement betrayed in his voice.
Was there anything new? he asked. What had happened?