The pure reality
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Entretanto é a pura realidade. Como estavão molhados e enxovalhados, convidei-os a entrarem no meo carro. Acceitárão depois de muita reluctancia, e dirigimo-nos para a casa delles.
And yet it is the pure reality. As they were wet and bedraggled, I invited them into my carriage. They accepted after much reluctance, and we made for their house.
The detail that gives the scene its truth is the 'muita reluctancia' — the great reluctance with which Isaura and Miguel accept a stranger's help. To an ordinary reader it might seem mere modesty; to one who knows their secret it is the fugitive's dread of any entanglement, weighed against the impossibility of refusing rescue while dripping wet on a public riverbank. Every kindness offered them is a dilemma: to accept is to be known, to refuse is to seem strange and draw more notice. Their hesitation is the visible strain of people for whom the smallest social transaction carries risk. Álvaro reads it as delicacy; it is fear, managed with grace.
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A Escrava Isaura 10.42 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/escravaisaura/10.42/