of all the misunderstandings invented in the world by the devil,—yes, because besides the devil, who would be capable of tangling up the threads of the skein with such loops and knots just when the piece of crochet is about to be finished?
Chance conferred upon Trancoso fifty contos in the lottery. Don't laugh. Why wouldn't Trancoso be the chosen one if chance is blind and he had the ticket in his pocket? He won the fifty contos which to a poor beggar of that sort signified great wealth.
Once in possession of the pile of money, after weeks of dizziness he decided to buy a fazenda. He wanted to stop up people's mouths doing something that had never entered his head: buy a plantation.
He passed in review all those that he had visited during the vagabond years, leaning finally towards the Espigão fazenda. Contributing to this were the memory of the girl, the old lady's cakes and the idea of giving over the administration of the fazenda to his father-in-law in such a way as to leave him free to loaf, gently basking in Zilda's love and the culinary perfections of his mother-in-law.
Therefore he wrote to Moreira announcing his return in order to close the deal.
Alas! when said letter reached the Espigão fazenda there were roars of anger mingled with howls of vengeance.
"Now's our chance!" said the old man. "The rascal liked the fun and wants to repeat the dose; but this time I'll fix you, see if I don't!"
