Return of the Native - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 269

him spiritually in his absence, not knowing whether this infidelity came from being fi-
nally free of his poor treatment of her, or whether it was simply the outcome of lack of
affection from Euclides; she thought they should prolong their separation by either di-
vorce or commissions.” 11 After receiving this letter, her husband had asked whether she
had profaned her body, to which she responded that she had profaned him only in spir-
it. 12 Using several subterfuges to hide her pregnancy, she continued living with her hus-
band and, as she reports, performing her wifely duties. 13 Amid the continuing acrimony
between husband and wife, Dilermando soon moved out of the house.
Figure 18.1. Dilermando de Assis.
Within two weeks of his arrival in Rio, da Cunha was writing his old housemate in
Manaus, Firmo Dutra, that he might soon be on his way to Venezuela or Guiana to con-
tinue border surveying. He was immersed in scandal. Even his father, who resided on
a remote coffee farm, was not distant enough to avoid commentary about Euclides and
Ana. Moralizing gossip, as Euclides's friend novelist Joaquim Machado de Assis noted
with pitiless acuity in his works, was one of the central pastimes of all strata of Brazili-
an society. In the small worlds of the Rio Branco court and the extended da Cunha and
de Assis families, probably everyone speculated on the triangle and had an opinion, and
mostprobablyreveledinEuclides'sdistress,whetherfromthewhinnyingpositionofthe
moral high horse, the luxurious stance of schadenfreude , or the realm of frank ridicule.
The household had been behaving strangely for a while, enough so that even Manoel
da Cunha noted it: “You told me nothing, but I understood that there was a lack of trust,
but I didn't want to impose on anyone, so I left, quickly and vexed. Not only for this but
also because of the strange way you are treating your wife and children, especially So-
lon,whomImostesteem.Ithought. . .thatmyexampleandadvicemighthavechanged
the your way of living, but I encountered the same tantrums, the same disorder of the
past . . .” 14