Dom Casmurro 3.32 · 3.32

Caught pressing too hard, he retreats without giving up an inch of ground: 'é um modo de falar' — it's just a figure of speech. The move is masterful. He disowns the literal 'corners' while leaving the suspicion it carried fully intact, so that if challenged he has said nothing, and if believed he has said everything. It is the informer's escape hatch, built into the accusation from the start — a way to plant an image and then deny having meant it so plainly.

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