It was not even professional football, they said; but an acrimonious discussion was closed by a strong hint from the Treasury that pay-day might be postponed indefinitely if too much were made of a regrettable accident to the guns of the Maceio artillery.
Meanwhile, Dom Corria, the man who did not forget, was puzzled by two circumstances not of national importance.

San Benavides, never a demonstrative lover where Carmela was concerned, was a changed man.

He was severely wounded during the fight, and Carmela nursed him assiduously, but there could be no doubt that he was under her thumb, and would remain there.

The indications were subtle but unmistakable.
Carmela even announced the date of their marriage.
Dom Corria remembered, of course, what San Benavides and his daughter had said when they all met in the ballroom.

It seemed to him that Salvador was telling the truth and that Carmela was fibbing on that occasion.