She threw herself on the bed, and broke into bitter weeping. She heard Juliana speaking loudly in the hall to Joanna, and she rose to her feet in terror. Was the vile wretch going to enter her room? She heard the sound of retreating footsteps, and then Joanna came in with a light.
“The Senhora Juliana got up for a little while,” she said; “but she does not feel very well yet, and she has gone back to bed again. Does the senhora require anything?”
“No,” answered Luiza from the alcove.
She undressed herself, and at last fell asleep through exhaustion.
Juliana could not sleep. Tortured by pain, she struggled with the demon of sleeplessness on her straw mattress, as she had done so many times before during the past few weeks. Ever since she had taken the letter from the sarcophagus she had lived in a continual fever, so intense was the joy, so strong the hope that animated her. From the time when Bazilio had first begun to frequent the house, she had felt a conviction that her opportunity had come. What an explosion of joy when, after so much fruitless spying, she had found the letter in the sarcophagus! She had run to her room, read it eagerly, and when she realized the importance of her discovery, her eyes filled with tears of joy, she lifted up her vile soul to heaven, saying,—
“God be praised!”
What use should she make of it? This was the question that troubled her. Her first thought was to sell it for a good round sum to Luiza. But where could her mistress find the money? No, it was better to wait for Jorge’s return, and then, through the medium of some other person, concealing her own share in the transaction, extort from him a large amount by the threat of making the matter public. At times, when she was most irritated by Luiza’s excursions, by her handsome toilets, by her beauty, she felt a temptation to rush out into the street, call the neighbors around her, read the letter to them, and thus avenge herself on this wanton.
Aunt Victoria soothed and advised her. She told her that to make the plot complete it was necessary to have a letter of the lover in her possession. She was obliged to employ much ingenuity,—all the stealthy watchfulness of a cat joined to the dexterity of a pickpocket,—to try several keys (two of them made after impressions in wax). But she obtained the letter; and what a letter! She read it to Aunt Victoria, whose sides shook with laughter as she read it.
“Good!” she said to Juliana; “now you have the knife and the cheese; with this you can stand your ground and wait your chance. Amiability, a pleasant countenance, plenty of smiles, so as not to alarm her, and a watchful eye. You have the mouse safe; let her play as much as she wishes.”
From this time forth Juliana enjoyed in secret all the delight of knowing that she had Luiza, the senhora, the mistress, under her thumb. She saw her adorn herself, go to meet her lover, sing gayly and eat well, and she thought with feline pleasure,—