João Mau-Tempo’s brother Anselmo and his sister Maria da Conceição were with him and had witnessed some of what had happened. He went over to them and said in a firm voice, Go to the village and tell our mother that I’m bringing my girl home with me, that I count on having her permission to do so, and that I’ll explain everything later. Anselmo said, Think carefully before you act, don’t get into something you can’t get out of. And Maria da Conceição said, I hate to think what our mother and our uncle will say. And João Mau-Tempo said, I’m a grown man now, I’ve been turned down for the army, and if my future is to take a new direction, then why wait, better sooner than later. And Anselmo said, One day, Uncle Joaquim Carranca could get an idea in his head and simply go off, you know what he’s like, and you’re needed at home. And Maria da Conceição said, You might be doing the wrong thing. But João Mau-Tempo said, Be patient, these things happen. When they left him, Maria da Conceição had a tear in her eye.
During this time of weekly comings and goings between Pendão das Mulheres and Monte de Berra Portas, the Mau-Tempo children had lodgings in the house of Aunt Cipriana, who was the woman we saw weeping by the river after the waters of Pego da Carriça had swept her husband away. She is dressed in mourning and will remain so until she dies, many years later, lost from our sight. Her nephew’s bold move, however, gave her a taste for acting as go-between, an honest one, of course, not a procuress, and as a protector of star-crossed lovers, and she never regretted this or suffered public censure for her actions. But that is another story. When João Mau-Tempo arrived, he said to his aunt, Aunt, will you please let Faustina come and meet me here until we can leave for my mother’s house in Monte de Berra Portas. And Cipriana answered, Think about what you’re doing, João, I don’t want any problems, and I don’t want to besmirch your late uncle’s memory either. And João replied, Don’t worry, we’ll only be here until it gets dark.
This was what João agreed with Faustina afterward, when he went to meet her, and she had deliberately dawdled, well, that’s only normal when you’re in love, but he can’t dissuade her from seeing her mother before they run away together, even if she doesn’t tell her where she’s going. João Mau-Tempo, not wanting to start his new life with a fortnight’s growth of beard, decided to visit the barber’s, where he got himself done up like a bridegroom, that is, with a clean-shaven face. Whenever such usually thickly bearded faces are shaven, they look somehow innocent, defenseless, their very fragility touches the heart. When he returned to Aunt Cipriana’s house, Faustina was there waiting for him, still tearful from her sister’s angry words, her father’s terrible rage and her mother’s grief. She had crept away unnoticed, but since her family would doubtless be scouring Monte Lavre to find out where the couple had gone, João and Faustina decided they had better make their escape as soon as possible. Cipriana said, It’s going to be a very tiring journey, and we’re in for a wet, dark night, take this umbrella and some bread and sausage to eat on the way, now that you’ve played this very unfunny joke on everyone, be sure to behave yourselves in future, that was what Cipriana said, but in her heart she was blessing them, vicariously enjoying this youthful transgression, ah, to be young again.
It was two and a half leagues from there to Monte de Berra Portas, the night had closed in completely, and rain was threatening. Walking two and a half leagues along paths that are all shadows and alarming shapes and noises, your thoughts inevitably turn to stories about werewolves, what’s more, because there is no other way, they have to cross the plank bridge at Pego da Carriça. Let’s say a prayer for my uncle, he was a good man and did not deserve such a sad death. The ash tree rustled gently, the water flowed like dark, whispering silk, and to think that in this very place, who would believe it. João Mau-Tempo was holding Faustina’s hand, his calloused fingers trembled, he guided her beneath the trees and through the dense undergrowth and the wet grass, and suddenly, quite how they didn’t know, perhaps it was due to exhaustion after so many weeks of work, perhaps to an unbearable shaking, they found themselves lying down. Faustina soon lost her maidenhood, and when they had finished, João remembered the bread and sausage, and it was as man and wife that they shared the food.
AS WE HAVE SEEN, Lamberto, regardless of whether
