He took up his cane, and shaking it menacingly in the direction Luiza had taken,—
“Hypocrite!” he muttered in revengeful accents.
And he went out, slamming the doors behind him.
Leopoldina, astounded, went into her room, where she found Luiza putting on her hat, her hands still trembling, but with eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
“Some unaccountable fancy took possession of me,” she said, “and I beat him on the face with his cane.”
Leopoldina gazed at her in amazement.
“You beat him?” she cried, bursting into a fit of laughter. “Castro, Castro of the eye-glasses covered with blows! Castro to endure a beating!” She threw herself on the sofa, choking with laughter. “Castro to come to the house of a friend, to bring with him six hundred thousand reis, and to go away with a cudgelling,—and with his own cane! It is enough to make one die laughing.”
“The worst of it is the lamp,” said Luiza.
Leopoldina rose to her feet suddenly.
“The oil! what an omen!” she exclaimed.