Lídia introduced them. Paulino got up. With the hand holding the cigarillo, he gestured to Maria Cláudia to take a seat, and they all sat down. Paulino was looking fixedly at Claudinha. She averted her gaze and stared down at the geometric figures in the carpet.
“Please, Paulino,” said Lídia, still smiling, “can’t you see you’re embarrassing Maria Cláudia?”
Paulino started slightly, then he smiled too and said:
“That certainly wasn’t my intention.” And turning to Maria Cláudia: “I didn’t think you were so… so young!”
“I’m nineteen, Senhor Morais,” she said, looking up.
“As you see, she’s still a child,” said Lídia.
Claudinha glanced across at her. The look they exchanged was suspicious and suddenly hostile. Maria Cláudia saw in a flash what Lídia was thinking, and what she saw sent a shiver of fear and pleasure through her. She sensed that Lídia was now her enemy, and she understood why. She saw herself and Lídia as if from another person’s perspective, from Paulino Morais’s perspective, for example, and the comparison clearly favored her.
“I’m not that much of a child, Dona Lídia, although I am, as Senhor Morais said, very young.”
Lídia bit her lip: she could see what Claudinha was hinting at. She immediately regained her composure, however, and laughed:
“Oh, I was just the same when I was your age. It used to drive me mad when anyone called me a child, but of course now I see they were right. So why can’t you see that too?”
“Perhaps because I’m not yet as old as Dona Lídia?”
Maria Cláudia was quick on the uptake when it came to these female skirmishes. This was her very first bout and, although she had already scored two hits and was herself as yet untouched, she was a little frightened: she feared she might not have breath enough or the right weapons to survive the rest of the duel. Fortunately for her, Paulino intervened. He took out a gold cigarette case and offered both women a cigarette. Lídia accepted.
“Don’t you smoke?” Paulino asked Maria Cláudia.
She blushed. She had smoked on several occasions in secret, but felt she should not accept. It might look bad and, besides, she was sure she would never be able to compete with Lídia when it came to holding the cigarette and raising it to her lips in a sufficiently elegant manner. She said:
“No, I don’t, Senhor Morais.”
“Very sensible.” He paused to inhale the smoke from his cigarillo, then went on: “Anyway, I don’t think it’s very nice of you two to talk about age when I’m old enough to be the father of you both.”
This remark had a soothing effect and established a truce. However, Claudinha immediately took the initiative, and with what Anselmo would have termed a charming smile, she remarked:
“You’re making yourself out to be much older than you really are.”
“All right, then, how old do you think I am?”
“About forty-five, perhaps…”
“Come now!” Paulino laughed out loud, and when he laughed his belly shook. “A little bit more than that.”
“Fifty?”
“No, fifty-six. So old enough to be your grandfather.”
“Well, you don’t look it!”
She said this with real sincerity and spontaneity, as Paulino was quick to notice. Lídia stood up. She went over to her lover and tried to lead the conversation back to the real reason for Maria Cláudia’s visit.
“Don’t forget that Claudinha is more interested in your decision than in your age. It’s getting late, and she probably needs to go to bed. Besides…” She paused and looked at Paulino with an expressive smile, then said in a soft voice, heavy with implied meanings: “Besides, I need to talk to you alone.”
Maria Cláudia gave in at this point. She could not do battle on that terrain. She saw that she was an intruder, that they were both — or at least Lídia was — eager to see the back of her. She felt like crying.
“Of course, yes, you’re quite right!” Paulino seemed to remember for the first time that he had a position to maintain, his respectability to safeguard, and that the frivolous nature of the conversation could compromise both. “So you want a job, do you?”
“Oh, I have a job already, Senhor Morais, but my parents don’t think I earn enough, and Dona Lídia was kind enough to take an interest and…”
“What can you do?”
“I can type.”
“Is that all? You don’t know shorthand?”
“No, Senhor Morais.”
“In the current climate, knowing how to type really isn’t enough. How much do you earn?”
“Five hundred escudos.”
“Hm, so you don’t know shorthand?”
“No, sir…”
Maria Cláudia’s voice tailed off. Lídia was beaming. Paulino looked thoughtful. An awkward silence ensued.
“But I could always learn,” said Claudinha.
“Hm.”
Paulino was drawing on his cigarillo and looking at the girl. Lídia chipped in:
“Listen, darling, I’d really like it if you could find Claudinha a job, but if it’s just not possible… Claudinha’s a bright girl. She’ll understand.”
Maria Cláudia no longer had strength enough to fight back. All she wanted was to be out of there as quickly as possible. She made as if to get up.
“No, wait,” said Paulino. “I’m going to give you a chance. My current shorthand-typist is getting married in three months’ time and then she’s going to leave. You can come and work at my company and, during those three months, I’ll pay you the same as you’re being paid now, but meanwhile I want you to learn shorthand. Then we’ll see. If you do well, I can promise you that your salary will go up by leaps and bounds! Agreed?”
“Oh, yes, Senhor Morais. Thank you so much!” Maria Cláudia’s face was like a spring dawn.
“Don’t you think you should speak to your parents first?”
“No, there’s no need, Senhor Morais. They’re sure to say yes.”
She said this with such certainty that Paulino eyed her with some curiosity. At the same moment, Lídia remarked:
“And if at the end of those three months you’re not satisfied with her or she isn’t good enough at shorthand, you’ll have to dismiss her, won’t you?”
Maria Cláudia fixed Paulino with anxious eyes.
“Well, I don’t know if it will come to that…”
“Then you’ll be the loser…”
“I’ll learn, Senhor Morais,” Maria Cláudia said, breaking in. “And I do very much hope you will be satisfied with me…”
“So do I,” said Paulino, smiling.
“When should I start?”
“Well, the sooner the better. When can you leave your present job?”
“Now if you want.”
Paulino thought for a moment, then said:
“It’s the twenty-sixth now. How about the first of the month? Would that be possible?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. But wait, I won’t be in Lisbon that day. It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll write you a note to give to the office manager, just in case I forget to warn him beforehand. Not that I will, of course, but…”
He took a business card out of his wallet. He looked for his glasses, but failed to find them.
“Where did I leave my glasses?”
“They’re in the bedroom,” answered Lídia.
“Go and fetch them for me, will you?”
Lídia left the room. Paulino, still holding his wallet, was gazing distractedly at Maria Cláudia. She had been sitting with eyes lowered, but then she raised her head and looked straight at him. There was something in his gaze that she understood at once. Neither of them looked away. Maria Cláudia took a deep breath, making her chest swell. Paulino felt the muscles in his back slowly stretch. From the corridor came the sound of Lídia’s returning footsteps.