And she, being good
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e ella, que é boa
and she, who is good
He praises Dona Glória's goodness — the goodness that was imposed upon.
The praise of Dona Glória is sincere in tone and strategic in use. José Dias calls her good, and she is; but he invokes her goodness as a soft thing that others lean on, the mother too kind to refuse. The compliment carries an implied grievance — such goodness is exploitable, and the Páduas, in his account, have exploited it.
Machado lets the flattery and the insinuation share a single clause. To praise the widow's soft heart is also to portray her as unguarded, in need of a shrewder protector — a role José Dias is always quietly auditioning for. The dependent's whole standing in the house rests on making himself the vigilant one, the retainer who sees the dangers the trusting mother cannot. Her goodness, in his mouth, becomes the reason she needs him.
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Dom Casmurro 25.15 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/domcasmurro/25.15/