Dom Casmurro 5.52 · 5.52

The scene is set with liturgical precision: 'ao setimo dia, depois da missa' — the seventh day, the mass for the dead, the moment of formal departure. José Dias observes every rite. His going 'despedir-se' repeats the same verb the chapter opened with; the man who was not dismissed now offers, once again and correctly, to remove himself.

The gesture is a small masterpiece of the agregado's art. He performs the leave-taking exactly when custom expects it, at the most decorous hour, knowing — as the reader by now suspects — how it will be answered. To resign at the right moment, gracefully, after Mass, is the surest way to be asked to stay. The pronoun 'delia,' of her, points to Dona Glória, and readies the two-line exchange that will close the whole manoeuvre. The stage is set for a refusal he has quietly engineered.

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