Summary

The Chapter begins with Almeyda beholding Mexia, a woman of African and Indian descent, who lives with Father Tollinare, the Franciscan priest who teaches her and other pupils the scriptures and other aspects of Portuguese learning. Mexia is always silent and stoic. This fascinates young Almeyda, who is trying to make sense of the colonial society she lives in, with its rigid racial and gender categories.

Almeyda, at the age of eight, is a precocious student and already a polymath. She is transfixed by Father Tollinare’s forbidden book room and resents being confined to reading and reciting scripture. One day, Mexia lets her into the room and tells her of Father Tollinare’s family history: he is the nephew of a priest burned at the stake for heresy.

The other female figure who entrances Almeyda is Antonia Artiga: “Everyone said she was a...