Killing Dr. da Cunha - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 362

that night Euclides became frantically jealous. Even though he had long known that two
of Ana's children (the unfortunate Mauro and Luis) had been fathered by Dilermando,
in his present state the situation had become explosive. Dilermando had assumed that
da Cunha was indifferent to the situation, a complaisant husband; Ana reported that she
kept most of the family discord from him. 31 But clearly something had shifted.
AfterAna'sreturnfromthesecondSãoPaulotrip,interactionsinthedaCunhahouse-
holdbecamefraught,toputitmildly.Forexample,asreportedbyAna,onedayEuclides
asked Neném whether she thought little Luis resembled anyone in his (the da Cunha)
family, which had no blonds. Neném answered that her family did include blonds, such
as Dilermando. Ana asked the Rattos not to say such things to her husband, who at
this particular juncture was becoming ever more, in Ana's words, “irascible.” Wasn't it
enough, she said, with the melodrama that became the hallmark of this household, that
her life was a living hell? 32 At this, Euclides said to Lucinda and Neném that since they
weresingleyoungwomen,itwasreallyimproperforthemtostayorbeseeninthehouse
of someone like Ana. 33
That Thursday, August 12, Euclides told Ana that he knew the truth and that she
should show some decorum and courage and—his words dripping irony—seek out
someone “worthy” of her, the “Sargentão.” Of course Euclides had known “the truth”
about little Mauro and knew also that Luis was not his child, 34 so the drama of “discov-
ery” seems unwarranted. The “truth” he knew now, though, seems to have been that the
São Paulo trip had been too obvious, had been noticed too publicly. Solon was also in-
volved in it, and acquiescent.
Perhaps in earlier times Euclides had hoped the passion would fade, or at least remain
clandestine or socially invisible. Perhaps he had just been too busy to heed it. In any
casehedidnotmuchcareforAnaandprobablyhadlittleinterestinwomenmoregener-
ally. But as the affair became more widely known, as it inevitably would in the gossipy
circles they lived in, Euclides was increasingly incensed and jealous for reasons of his
own honor and public esteem, as well as resentful of the shifting affections of his old-
est son. Dilermando believed Euclides was unbothered by the affair, and perhaps he had
been for a time. Dilermando, at least, could imagine a domestic détente. After the final
São Paulo visit there seems to have been a sea change within Euclides, though. Most of
the principals hadn't quite taken the measure of his emotional swing and were surprised
and distressed at its rancor. Solon's and Dinorah's panicky calls for Ana to return home
immediately on the night before the catastrophe convey this dread.
On that same Thursday, Ana went to Dilermando's house after Dinorah delivered a
notestating thathisbrotherfeltill,wantedhertocometohim,andsuggestedthepretext
of hunting for a bigger house (necessary for when Euclides's father would come). She
tookLuiswithher,andastheirabsenceextendedintoevening,Euclidesbecameincreas-