but how forget
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mas como ha de esquecer
but how can she forget
The reprieve collapses: she cannot forget.
The 'mas' snaps the reprieve shut. Justina raised the possibility of forgetting only to demolish it: 'como ha de esquecer' — how is she supposed to forget? The rhetorical question expects no answer, or rather its answer is the whole rest of the sentence, the ceaseless voice in the ear.
Machado's rhetoric works by build and collapse. He lets the gentle vision of fading grief stand for two clauses, then knocks it flat with a single conjunction. The structure mirrors Bento's own predicament: every hope of escape from the seminary rises and is cut down by José Dias's persistence. Here the pattern is compressed into one line — a door opened and slammed — so the reader feels, in miniature, the trap that will hold the boy for chapters to come.
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