Every afternoon, on foot
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Todavia continuei a passar todas as tardes por defronte do jardim, mas a pé para melhor poder sorprehendel-a e admiral-a; quasi sempre porém sem resultado.
Nevertheless I went on passing every afternoon before the garden, but on foot, the better to surprise and admire her; almost always, however, without result.
Álvaro's patient daily vigil — 'todas as tardes... a pé', every afternoon, on foot — is courtship, but the reader cannot help hearing it as surveillance. He haunts the garden, watching for a glimpse, hoping to 'sorprehendel-a', to catch her unawares. The word 'surprise' is the same one used of ambush. However innocent his intent, the effect on Isaura's world is another watcher at the fence, another pair of eyes she must evade. Guimarães lets the tender and the menacing blur once more: the ardent lover and the paid agent both patrol the same street, both hoping to catch sight of the same woman. That Álvaro means only love does not lessen the pressure of being, always, watched for.
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