Had I known, I'd not have spoken
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« Se soubesse, não teria falado,
«Had I known, I would not have spoken,
His excuse begins with false regret.
'Se soubesse, não teria falado' — had I known, I would not have spoken. It is a masterpiece of insincere regret. He does not wish the thing unsaid; he only wishes it had not made her cry — and even that regret is a performance, designed to make him seem tender-hearted rather than meddling. The conditional dodges all responsibility: if only he had known, as though the tears were an unforeseeable accident rather than the natural fruit of alarming a mother about her son. Having lit the fire, he apologizes for the smoke.
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Dom Casmurro 3.104 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/domcasmurro/3.104/