The bewitching little mark
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E não reparaste, accrescentou o Dr. Geraldo, naquelle feiticeiro sinalsinho que tem na face direita?... Alvaro tem razão; a sua fada vae eclipsar todas as bellezas do salão.
And did you not notice, added Dr. Geraldo, that bewitching little mark she has on her right cheek?... Álvaro is right; his fairy will eclipse all the beauties of the ballroom.
Geraldo, the sceptic, is the first to name the detail that will one day undo her: the 'sinalsinho... na face direita', the little mark on her right cheek. To him it is 'feiticeiro', bewitching, a beauty-spot that enhances her charm; to the reader it tolls like an alarm bell. For this very mark — a distinguishing feature no disguise can hide — is exactly what a hunter's description would fasten on, the one thing that turns a beautiful stranger into an identifiable person. Guimarády plants it here in a compliment, so that when it returns in the language of a wanted notice, the reader will feel the trap it always was. That the man who most distrusts her is the one who marks it is a further, quiet cruelty: Geraldo's sharp eye has found the flaw in the disguise, and named it aloud in a crowded room.
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