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DilermandodeAssiswascertainlynotanunbiasedobserveroftheeventsbutwasper-
haps not lacking in insight about them, and he was in a position to know many details.
He described the ambience of the da Cunha household thus:
The husband apparently lacked the acuity necessary for understanding that the incompatibility was
not faked but very real and profound. Admitting, perhaps, the validity of the conjugal accusations
she made against him, Euclides told her that he gave little importance to what she might think, given
that her body had not been profaned. She continued to share his bed. She avoided encounters with
her young cadet, and tried by all ways and means to hide her pregnancy. This, however, soon became
impossible: the unconfessed truth emerged, brutal and accusing. The husband, now certain of her in-
fidelity, hurled the cruelest insults at her. 19
Dilermando, who was transferring to the military college in Rio Grande do Sul, took
his leave of the couple in a formal letter. Euclides opened it and read it out loud in front
of the household as well as some guests who were there by happenstance. Ana listened,
humiliated by the shock. Her husband exclaimed, glaring at her anguished expression,
“Look at her face! And tell me if it isn't that of someone who has lost the being they
most love.” 20
The months that followed were terrible, filled with threats and fear. 21 Dreadful scenes
were a regular feature of their domestic life. Nevertheless, Dilermando and Ana main-
tained a passionate correspondence after his departure through the classic ruse of the
post-office box (she was “Olinda Ribeiro”) and through various domestic ploys (e.g.,
Dilermando visited when Euclides was visiting the Baron at his summer house). When
Dilermando moved back to Rio, they were able to continue the obviously compelling
sensual part of their romance. 22
Da Cunha was living a life full of deceptions. Young Mauro was born on July 11,
1906. The entire household “fell ill” with the birth: Euclides purported to be wracked
with fever and unable to leave the house, according to the notes he sent to da Gama and
the Baron. Ana was in a postpartum as well as romantic depression, and the domestic
atmosphere was utterly bitter. Little Mauro, who was born at a normal weight and was
recognized by Euclides as his son and registered as such on the birth certificate, was
dead within the week. The formal cause of death was “inanition”—starving to death. 23
Usually this is due to some inability to nurse, whether through weakness or disease or a
lack of milk from the mother.
The child was certainly not premature, although in his correspondence Euclides
averred that it was so. In statements under oath to the judge Manoel Costa de Ribeiro,
Ana stated that
during the pregnancy she sought the assistance of Dr. Erico Coelho [a friend and doctor to the da
Cunha family], to whom she related the following: that while her husband was away, a friend had be-
comeimpassioned withher,andforcedhertohaverelations withhim,andshethusbecame pregnant.
Shesoughtsomemedicinestoabort,orsomeotheradvice.Thedoctorcouldnotattendherbecauseof
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