'A solemn promise'
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Sabes tambem, que teo pae havia feito promessa solemne ao pae de Isaura de dar-lhe alforria pela quantia de dez contos de réis,
You know too, that your father had made a solemn promise to Isaura's father, of granting her manumission for the sum of ten contos de réis,
Malvina piles up the case: her husband's own father bound himself by a 'promessa solemne' — a formal, binding pledge — to free Isaura for ten contos de réis, an enormous sum. A conto was a thousand mil-réis; ten contos was a fortune, the ransom Isaura's own father had scraped together. The point is not the money but the debt of honour: a solemn promise, freely given, that Leôncio now means to dishonour.
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A Escrava Isaura 8.55 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/escravaisaura/8.55/