Dom Casmurro 21.32 · 21.32

One word confirms it, and the word is perfectly chosen. 'Naturalmente' treats José Dias's meddling as the most obvious thing in the world, a fact so settled it hardly needs saying — which is exactly how thoroughly the household has absorbed his presence.

The adverb also carries Justina's dry tone. Of course it is José Dias; who else spends himself so freely on other people's futures? Machado lets the single confirming word do double duty: it seals the identification and, at the same time, sketches the whole ecology of the house, where the agregado's interference is so constant it registers as nature rather than intrusion. The very ordinariness of the answer is the indictment.

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