A Escrava Isaura 8.62 · 8.62

'Por ventura' — perchance, by any chance — is a rhetorical feint that assumes its own answer. Leôncio measures Isaura's condition purely by comfort and treatment, as if a well-fed captivity were no captivity at all. The question 'é maltratada?' insults the very argument Malvina made: the wrong is not ill-usage but ownership.

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