He greeted me, sat down
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Comprimentou-me, sentou-se ao pé de mim,
He greeted me, sat down beside me,
He greeted me, sat down beside me,
The comedy of enforced sociability begins. 'Comprimentou-me, sentou-se ao pé de mim' — he greeted me, sat himself down right beside me. The verbs march in a brisk little sequence, and you can feel the narrator's heart sink with each one: the nod, the settling-in, the closing of the trap. There is no rudeness he can do about it — train-car courtesy obliges him to suffer the company. Machado catches with perfect economy a universal small dread: the acquaintance who attaches himself to you in a public conveyance and cannot be shaken. And it matters that the whole tragedy of the book will issue from exactly this — a trivial social politeness the narrator could not refuse. The nickname 'Dom Casmurro' is about to be born out of ordinary good manners endured with private impatience.
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