# The Seven Madmen, Two Souls

Los siete locos · Roberto Arlt · Part Two

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/arlt/dos-almas. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/arlt/dos-almas.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/arlt/<line id>.m4a.


A las dos de la madrugada, aun andaba Erdosain entre murallas de viento, por las calles del centro, en busca de un lenocinio.  
At two in the morning Erdosain was still wandering between walls of wind, through the downtown streets, in search of a brothel.
> «lenocinio»: A literary, somewhat archaic word for a brothel or house of prostitution. Arlt mixes this elevated register with the slang of the street, a hallmark of his prose.

Un rumor sordo jadeaba en sus orejas, mas siguiendo el frenesí del instinto caminaba a la sombra que las altas fachadas arrojaban hasta el afirmado.  
A dull murmur panted in his ears, but following the frenzy of instinct he walked in the shadow that the tall façades threw down to the pavement.
> «mas» without an accent: «mas» (no accent) is a literary conjunction meaning 'but', equivalent to «pero». Do not confuse it with «más» (with accent), which means 'more'. Arlt favors the older, bookish «mas» throughout this chapter.
Una tristeza horrible estaba en él.  
A horrible sadness was inside him.
En ese momento no tenía rumbos.  
At that moment he had no bearings.

Sonámbulo, marchaba, con los ojos inmóviles en las flechas niqueladas que en los cascos de los vigilantes hacían relucir en las bocacalles los cilindros de luz que caían de los arcos voltaicos... Un impulso extraordinario arrojaba su cuerpo a en largos pasos... Así venía Plaza Mayo, y ahora, por Cangallo, dejaba atrás la estación del Once.  
Sleepwalking, he marched on, his eyes fixed on the nickel-plated spikes that, on the policemen's helmets, were set gleaming at the street corners by the cylinders of light falling from the arc lamps... An extraordinary impulse flung his body forward in long strides... So he came up Plaza Mayo, and now, along Cangallo, he was leaving the Once station behind him.

Una tristeza horrible estaba en él.  
A horrible sadness was inside him.

Su pensamiento, inmóvil en un hecho, repetía:  
His thought, fixed on a single fact, kept repeating:

–Es inútil, soy un asesino –mas, de pronto, al aparecer el cubo rojo o amarillo del zaguán de un lenocinio, se detenía, vacilaba un instante bañado por la neblina rojiza o amarillenta, luego, diciéndose–: Será en otro –continuaba su camino.  
"It's no use, I'm a murderer" — but suddenly, when the red or yellow cube of a brothel's entryway appeared, he would stop, hesitate a moment bathed in the reddish or yellowish haze, then, telling himself "It will be at another one," he would go on his way.
> «al» + infinitive: «Al» followed by an infinitive means 'upon / when (something happens)': «al aparecer el cubo» = 'when the cube appeared'. It compresses a clause of time into two words, a very common Spanish construction.
> Imperfect for habitual action: These imperfect forms («se detenía», 'he would stop'; «vacilaba», 'he would hesitate'; «continuaba», 'he would go on') describe a repeated, habitual action — what he did at each brothel he passed, not one single completed event.

Silencioso, a su lado, rodaba un automóvil en la veloz desaparición, y Erdosain pensaba en la dicha que no tendría nunca y en su juventud perdida, y su sombra se adelantaba rápidamente en las baldosas, luego perdía longitud, e, iniciándose pisoteada, brincaba sobre sus espaldas u oscilaba en la reja brillosa de una alcantarilla... Mas su angustia se hacía a cada instante más pesada, como si fuera una masa de agua, fatigando con una marea la verticalidad de sus miembros.  
Silent, at his side, an automobile rolled past into its swift vanishing, and Erdosain thought of the happiness he would never have and of his lost youth, and his shadow ran ahead quickly over the paving stones, then lost length, and, beginning trampled underfoot, leapt onto his back or swayed across the shining grate of a drain... But his anguish grew heavier at every instant, as if it were a mass of water, wearying with a tide the uprightness of his limbs.
> «como si» + imperfect subjunctive: «como si» ('as if') always takes the past subjunctive: the imperfect subjunctive (fuera, tuviera) for a simultaneous unreal comparison, or the pluperfect subjunctive (hubiera sido) for a prior unreal event. Here «como si fuera» = 'as if it were' — a simultaneous comparison. The construction states an unreal comparison: the anguish is not water, but behaves as though it were.
A pesar de esto, Erdosain se imaginaba que, por beneficio de su providencia, había entrado a un prostíbulo singular.  
In spite of this, Erdosain imagined that, by the grace of some providence of his own, he had entered a singular brothel.
> «a pesar de»: A fixed phrase meaning 'in spite of', 'despite'. «A pesar de esto» = 'in spite of this'.

La regenta le abría la puerta del dormitorio, él se arrojaba vestido encima del lecho... en un rincón hervía el agua de una olla sobre el quemador de kerosene... súbitamente entraba la pupila semidesnuda... y deteniéndose asombrada de un motivo que sólo él y ella conocían, la ramera exclamaba:  
The madam would open the bedroom door for him, he would throw himself fully dressed onto the bed... in a corner the water in a pot boiled over a kerosene burner... suddenly the half-naked girl would come in... and stopping, astonished at a reason only he and she knew, the whore would exclaim:
> «pupila»: Beyond its anatomical meaning ('pupil of the eye'), «pupila» was period slang for a woman working in a brothel — an 'inmate' of the house. «regenta» is the madam who runs it.

–¡Ah! ¿sos vos?... ¡vos!... ¡por fin viniste!...  
"Ah! Is it you?... You!... You came at last!..."
> Argentine «voseo»: «sos vos» = 'it's you' (singular). In Argentine Spanish «vos» replaces «tú», and the verb «ser» becomes «sos» instead of «eres». «viniste» ('you came') is the same in both systems. This «voseo» is everywhere in Arlt's dialogue.

Erdosain le respondía:  
Erdosain would answer her:

–Sí, soy yo... ¡Ah, si supieras cuánto te he buscado!  
"Yes, it's me... Ah, if you only knew how I have searched for you!"
> «si» + imperfect subjunctive: «si supieras» = 'if you knew / if you only knew'. A hypothetical, contrary-to-fact condition uses «si» plus the imperfect subjunctive («supieras» from «saber»). She does not know, so the wish stays unreal.

Mas como esto era imposible que aconteciera, su tristeza rebotaba como pelota de plomo en una muralla de goma.  
But since it was impossible for this to happen, his sadness bounced back like a lead ball off a rubber wall.
> Subjunctive after an impersonal judgment: After «era imposible que» ('it was impossible that'), the verb goes into the subjunctive: «aconteciera» ('should happen', from «acontecer», to happen). Expressions of possibility, necessity, and doubt trigger the subjunctive in the clause they govern.
Y bien sabía que siempre sus anhelos de ser súbitamente compadecido, por una ramera desconocida, serían durante el desenvolverse de los días, ineficaces como esa pelota, para horadar la vida espesa.  
And he knew well that always his longing to be suddenly pitied by an unknown whore would be, as the days unfolded, as useless as that ball for boring through the thick mass of life.
Nuevamente se repitió:  
Again he repeated to himself:

–¡Ah! ¿sos vos? vos... ¡Ah! por fin viniste, mi triste amor... –pero todo era inútil, él no encontraría jamás esa mujer, y una energía despiadada, de desesperación, le ensanchaba los músculos, se difundía en los setenta kilos de su pesadez, moviéndola con agilidad a través de las tinieblas, mientras que en el cubo de su pecho, una tristeza enorme hacía pesados los latidos de su corazón.  
"Ah! Is it you? You... Ah! You came at last, my sad love..." — but it was all useless, he would never find that woman, and a pitiless energy, born of despair, swelled his muscles, spread through the seventy kilos of his bulk, moving it nimbly through the darkness, while in the cube of his chest an enormous sadness made the beats of his heart go heavy.
> The conditional for the unattainable: «encontraría» ('he would find') is the conditional of «encontrar». Here it marks a future seen from the past that will never come true — «no encontraría jamás» = 'he would never find'.

De pronto se encontró frente al portalón de la pensión donde vivía; entonces resolvió entrar.  
Suddenly he found himself before the great door of the boardinghouse where he lived; then he resolved to go in.
> «pensión»: A boardinghouse — a building of rented rooms, often with shared facilities, typical lodging for the poor and lower-middle class of Arlt's Buenos Aires. Erdosain rents a single room here.
Su corazón latía impaciente.  
His heart beat impatiently.

En puntillas cruzó la galería y acercándose a la puerta de su pieza la abrió sigilosamente.  
On tiptoe he crossed the gallery and, drawing near the door of his room, opened it stealthily.
> «pieza»: In River Plate Spanish «pieza» commonly means a 'room' (a bedroom), not a 'piece'. «su pieza» = 'his room'.
Luego, con las manos extendidas en la oscuridad, fue hacia el ángulo donde estaba el sofá y lentamente se acurrucó allí, evitando crujieran los muelles.  
Then, with his hands stretched out in the darkness, he went toward the corner where the sofa was and slowly curled up there, taking care the springs should not creak.
> Subjunctive after «evitar que»: «evitar que» ('to keep / prevent something from happening') takes the subjunctive: «crujieran» ('that they creak', from «crujir»). The «que» is dropped here in literary style, but the subjunctive remains.
Más tarde no encontró explicación para esta actitud.  
Later he could find no explanation for this behavior.
Estiró las piernas en el sofá y durante unos minutos permaneció con la nuca apoyada en el entrecruzamiento de sus manos.  
He stretched his legs out on the sofa and for a few minutes remained with the back of his neck resting on his interlaced hands.
Y había más oscuridad en su alma que en aquel momento de tinieblas, que se convertiría en un cubo empapelado si encendiera la lámpara.  
And there was more darkness in his soul than in that moment of gloom, which would turn into a wallpapered cube if he lit the lamp.
> Conditional sentence: A hypothetical: «si encendiera la lámpara» ('if he lit the lamp') uses the imperfect subjunctive, and the main clause «se convertiría» ('it would turn into') uses the conditional. Together they describe an outcome that depends on an action he does not take.
Quería fijar su pensamiento en algo objetivo, lo cual le fue imposible.  
He wanted to fix his thought on something objective, which proved impossible for him.
Esto le causó cierto miedo pueril; durante unos instantes extremó su atención, pero ningún sonido llegaba hasta él y entonces cerró los ojos.  
This caused him a certain childish fear; for a few moments he strained his attention to the utmost, but no sound reached him, and then he closed his eyes.
Su corazón trabajaba con golpes roncos, propulsando la masa de su sangre, y una frialdad de agua le erizó el vello de la espalda.  
His heart labored with hoarse blows, driving the mass of his blood, and a coldness like water made the hair on his back stand on end.

Con los párpados tiesos y el cuerpo rígido aguardaba un acontecimiento.  
With his eyelids stiff and his body rigid, he awaited some event.
De pronto comprendió que si continuaba en esa postura gritaría de miedo, y recogiendo los talones, con las piernas cruzadas como un Buda, aguardó en la oscuridad.  
Suddenly he understood that if he stayed in that position he would scream with fear, and drawing in his heels, his legs crossed like a Buddha, he waited in the darkness.
> Conditional with imperfect: In reported, past-framed hypotheticals Arlt pairs the imperfect «continuaba» ('if he went on') with the conditional «gritaría» ('he would scream') — an everyday River Plate alternative to the more formal «si continuara... gritaría».
Su aniquilamiento era intenso, mas no podía llamar a nadie, ni tampoco llorar.  
His self-annihilation was intense, but he could call no one, nor could he weep.
Y sin embargo, no era cosa de continuar así toda la noche, encuclillas.  
And yet it was no good going on like this all night, crouched down.
> «sin embargo»: A connector meaning 'nevertheless', 'however', 'and yet'. It introduces a thought that runs against what was just said.

Encendió un cigarrillo y lo inmovilizó un gran frío.  
He lit a cigarette, and a great chill froze him still.

La Coja estaba de pie junto al canto del biombo, examinándolo con su venenosa mirada fría.  
The Lame Woman was standing beside the edge of the folding screen, studying him with her venomous cold gaze.
> «la Coja»: «coja» means 'lame' (a woman who limps); capitalized and with the article, «la Coja» works as a nickname, 'the Lame Woman'. In Spanish a defining physical trait is often turned straight into a name.
El cabello dividido en dos lisos bandos le cubría las orejas con sus alas rojas, y los labios de la mujer estaban apretados.  
Her hair, parted into two smooth bands, covered her ears with its red wings, and the woman's lips were pressed tight.
Todo denotaba en ella un exceso de atención, pero Erdosain tuvo miedo.  
Everything about her betrayed an excess of attention, but Erdosain was afraid.
> Preterite of «tener»: «tuvo» is the preterite of «tener». «tener miedo» = 'to be afraid' (literally 'to have fear'); «tuvo miedo» marks the fear as a single completed reaction — 'he grew afraid' — set against the imperfect descriptions around it.
Por fin atinó a decir:  
At last he managed to say:
> «atinar a»: «atinar a (hacer algo)» means to manage, finally, to do something — to hit upon the right action after hesitation. «atinó a decir» = 'he managed to say'.

–¡Usted!  
"You!"

El fósforo le quemaba las uñas... y de pronto, un impulso más fuerte que su timidez lo levantó.  
The match was burning his fingernails... and suddenly an impulse stronger than his shyness pulled him to his feet.
En la oscuridad caminó hacia ella, y dijo:  
In the darkness he walked toward her, and said:

–¿Usted?... ¿No dormía usted?  
"You?... Weren't you sleeping?"

El sintió que ella estiraba el brazo; la mano de la mujer tomó entre los dedos su mentón e Hipólita dijo con una voz profunda:  
He felt her stretch out her arm; the woman's hand took his chin between its fingers, and Hipólita said in a deep voice:
> «e» instead of «y»: Before a word beginning with the «i» sound, the conjunction «y» ('and') becomes «e» for euphony: «e Hipólita», not «y Hipólita». This applies before «hi-» + consonant (hijo, hilo, Hipólita) but NOT before «hie-» (hielo, hierba, hierro), where the diphthong already begins with /je/ and retains «y».

–¿Que tiene que no duerme?  
"What's wrong, that you're not sleeping?"

–¿Usted me acaricia a mí, señora?  
"Are you caressing me, señora?"
> Redundant object pronoun: «me... a mí» doubles the object for emphasis: the pronoun «me» already says 'me', and «a mí» repeats it for stress — 'me, of all people'. This redundant doubling is normal and common in Spanish.

–¿Por qué no duerme?  
"Why aren't you sleeping?"

–Usted me toca a mí?.... ¡Pero qué fría está su mano!... ¿Por qué está tan fría su mano?  
"You're touching me?... But how cold your hand is!... Why is your hand so cold?"

–Encienda la lámpara.  
"Light the lamp."
> Formal command: «Encienda» is the «usted» command of «encender» ('to light'). Formal commands use the subjunctive form of the verb; matching her formal address, she orders him with «usted».

Bajo la luz vertical, Erdosain quedóse contemplándola.  
Under the vertical light, Erdosain stood gazing at her.
> Attached pronoun «-se»: In literary style the reflexive pronoun is attached to the end of the verb: «quedóse» = «se quedó» ('he stayed / remained'). Modern prose usually puts the pronoun before the verb, but Arlt keeps this older placement.
Ella se sentó en el sofá.  
She sat down on the sofa.

Erdosain murmuró tímidamente:  
Erdosain murmured timidly:

–¿Quiere que me siente a su lado?  
"Would you like me to sit beside you?"
> Subjunctive after «querer que»: When you want someone else to do something, «querer que» takes the subjunctive: «Quiere que me siente» = 'Do you want me to sit'. «siente» here is the subjunctive of «sentarse» (to sit down), not of «sentir».
No podía dormir.  
I couldn't sleep.

Hipólita le hizo espacio, y junto a la intrusa, Erdosain no pudo contener la fuerza que levantaba sus manos, y con la yema de los dedos le acarició la frente.  
Hipólita made room for him, and beside the intruder Erdosain could not hold back the force that lifted his hands, and with his fingertips he stroked her forehead.
> «la intrusa»: 'The intruder' (feminine). Arlt keeps calling Hipólita «la intrusa» — she has appeared, uninvited and unexplained, in Erdosain's room, and the word holds her at a strange, threatening distance even as they grow intimate.

–¿Por qué es usted así? –le preguntó él.  
"Why are you like this?" he asked her.

La mujer lo miró serena.  
The woman looked at him, serene.

Erdosain la contempló un instante con muda desesperación; y al fin, recogió su fina mano.  
Erdosain gazed at her a moment in mute desperation; and at last he took up her slender hand.
Iba a llevársela a los labios, pero una fuerza extraña chocó en su sensibilidad, y sollozando se desmoronó sobre la falda de la mujer.  
He was about to raise it to his lips, but a strange force struck against his feeling, and sobbing he collapsed onto the woman's lap.
> «iba a» + infinitive: «ir a» + infinitive expresses an intended or imminent action; in the imperfect, «iba a llevársela» = 'he was about to / going to raise it'. The double pronoun «-se-la» = 'it (her hand) to (his lips)'.

Lloraba convulsivamente a la sombra de la intrusa erguida y de su mirada inmóvil en los sacudimientos de su cabeza.  
He wept convulsively in the shadow of the intruder, upright, and of her gaze fixed on the shaking of his head.
Lloraba aciegado, retorcida la vida de un furor ronco, conteniendo gritos cuyos desgarramientos incompletos renovaban su dolor horrible, y el sufrimiento brotaba de él inagotablemente, se inundaba de más pena, una pena que subía en sollozos en su garganta.  
He wept blindly, his life wrung by a hoarse fury, holding back cries whose unfinished tearings renewed his horrible pain, and suffering welled up from him inexhaustibly, he was flooded with more grief, a grief that rose in sobs into his throat.
Así agonizó varios minutos, mordiendo su pañuelo para no gritar, mientras que el silencio de ella era una blandura en la que se recostaba su espíritu extenuado.  
So he agonized for several minutes, biting his handkerchief to keep from screaming, while her silence was a softness on which his exhausted spirit leaned back.
> «para» + infinitive of purpose: «para» + infinitive states purpose: «para no gritar» = 'so as not to scream', 'to keep from screaming'. Negate by placing «no» right before the infinitive.
Luego el sufrimiento gritante se agotó; lágrimas en su pecho y encontró consuelo en estar caído así, con las mejillas mojadas, sobre el regazo de una mujer.  
Then the screaming suffering wore itself out; tears in his chest, and he found comfort in lying fallen like this, his cheeks wet, on the lap of a woman.
Un enorme cansancio lo agobiaba, la figura de su esposa distante terminó por borrarse de la superficie de su pena, y mientras permanecía así, un encalmamiento crepuscular vino a resignarlo para todos los desastres que se habían preparado.  
An enormous weariness weighed him down, the figure of his distant wife ended by fading from the surface of his grief, and while he stayed like this, a twilight calm came to resign him to all the disasters that had been prepared.
> «terminar por» + infinitive: «terminar por (hacer algo)» means to end up (doing something) — the final stage of a process: «terminó por borrarse» = 'it ended by fading', 'it finally faded away'.

Levantó el enrojecido rostro, rayado por los repliegues de la tela y húmedo de lágrimas.  
He lifted his reddened face, streaked by the folds of the cloth and damp with tears.

Ella lo miraba serena.  
She looked at him, serene.

–¿Está triste? –preguntó.  
"Are you sad?" she asked.
> «estar» for a state: Sadness is a state, so it takes «estar», not «ser»: «¿Está triste?» = 'Are you sad (right now)?'. «ser triste» would instead mean 'to be a sad/depressing thing' by nature.

–Sí.  
"Yes."

Luego callaron y un relámpago violeta iluminó los recovecos del patio oscuro.  
Then they fell silent, and a violet flash of lightning lit up the recesses of the dark courtyard.
> «callar» — to fall silent: «callar» (or «callarse») means to fall silent, to stop talking — not 'to be quiet' as an ongoing state. The preterite «callaron» = 'they fell silent', a single completed shift into silence.
Llovía.  
It was raining.

–¿Quiere que tomemos mate?  
"Would you like us to drink mate?"

–Sí.  
"Yes."

En silencio preparó el agua.  
In silence he prepared the water.
Ella miraba abstraída los cristales donde tamborileaba la lluvia, mientras Erdosain aprontaba la yerba.  
She gazed absently at the panes where the rain drummed, while Erdosain got the yerba ready.
Luego, sonriendo entre las lágrimas, dijo:  
Then, smiling through the tears, she said:

–Yo lo cebo a mi modo.  
"I'll prepare it my own way."
> «cebar» el mate: «cebar» is the specific River Plate verb for preparing and serving mate — packing the gourd and pouring the hot water. «Yo lo cebo a mi modo» = 'I serve the mate my own way'. The «lo» refers to the mate.
Le gustará.  
"You'll like it."

–¿Por qué estaba triste?  
"Why were you sad?"

–No sé... la angustia... hace mucho tiempo que no vivo tranquilo.  
"I don't know... the anguish... it's been a long time since I've lived in peace."
> «hace... que» for duration: «hace mucho tiempo que no vivo tranquilo» = 'it has been a long time that I have not lived in peace'. «hace + time + que + present» expresses how long an ongoing (or, with «no», an absent) situation has lasted.

Ahora tomaba el mate en silencio, y en la habitación con el empapelado descolado en un rincón, se hacía más perfecta la figura de la mujer, envuelta en el abrigo de lutre, con el cabello rojo peinado en dos bandos que cubrían la punta de sus orejas.  
Now she drank the mate in silence, and in the room with its wallpaper peeling in one corner, the figure of the woman grew more perfect, wrapped in her nutria coat, her red hair combed into two bands that covered the tips of her ears.

Con sonrisa pueril, agregó Erdosain:  
With a childish smile, Erdosain added:

–Cuando estoy solo... a veces suelo tomar.  
"When I'm alone... sometimes I'm in the habit of drinking it."
> «soler» + infinitive: «soler» + infinitive expresses a habit: «suelo tomar» = 'I usually drink / I tend to drink'. «soler» has no clean one-word English equivalent; it folds 'usually / tend to' straight into the verb.

Ella sonrió amigablemente con una pierna cruzada sobre otra, la espalda ligeramente inclinada, un codo apoyado en la palma de la mano y los dedos de la otra sosteniendo el mate, cuya bombilla niquelada chupaba con lentitud.  
She smiled amiably, one leg crossed over the other, her back slightly inclined, an elbow resting in the palm of her hand and the fingers of the other holding the mate, whose nickel-plated straw she sipped slowly.
> «bombilla»: The metal straw used to drink mate, with a filter at its lower end. (In Spain «bombilla» means a lightbulb — context tells you which.)

–Sí, estaba angustiado –repitió Erdosain–; pero, ¡qué frías sus manos!... ¿Siempre las tiene así frías?  
"Yes, I was distressed," Erdosain repeated, "but how cold your hands are!... Are they always this cold?"

–Sí.  
"Yes."

–¿Me quiere dar su mano?  
"Will you give me your hand?"

Enderezó la intrusa la espalda y casi señorial se la alcanzó.  
The intruder straightened her back and, almost regally, held it out to him.
> «se la» — two pronouns: «se la alcanzó» = 'she held it out to him'. «la» is the hand; «se» stands in for «le» ('to him') because two l-pronouns can't sit side by side — «le la» always becomes «se la».
Erdosain la tomó con precaución y se la llevó a los labios, y ella lo miró largamente, derretida la frialdad de sus pupilas en un calor súbito que le sonrojó las mejillas.  
Erdosain took it cautiously and raised it to his lips, and she looked at him a long while, the coldness of her eyes melted in a sudden warmth that flushed her cheeks.
Recordó entonces Erdosain al encadenado, y sin que esto pudiera vencer la pálida alegría que estaba en él, dijo:  
Then Erdosain remembered the chained man, and without this being able to overcome the pale joy that was in him, he said:
> Subjunctive after «sin que»: «sin que» ('without [something happening]') always takes the subjunctive: «sin que esto pudiera vencer» = 'without this being able to overcome'. «pudiera» is the imperfect subjunctive of «poder».

–Vea... si usted me pidiera ahora que me matara, yo lo hacía.  
"Look... if you were to ask me right now to kill myself, I'd do it."
> Stacked subjunctives: Two subjunctives stack here: «si... me pidiera» ('if you were to ask me', hypothetical condition) and the request itself «que me matara» ('to kill myself'), since «pedir que» commands a subjunctive in its clause. The colloquial «yo lo hacía» stands in for «yo lo haría» ('I'd do it').
Tan contento estoy.  
That's how happy I am.
El calor que hacía un instante convulsionó las aguas de sus ojos se perdió otra vez en la frialdad de su mirada.  
The warmth that an instant before had convulsed the waters of her eyes was lost again in the coldness of her gaze.
La mujer lo examinaba encurioseada.  
The woman examined him, her curiosity roused.

–Se lo digo seriamente.  
"I'm telling you seriously."
Voy... es mejor... pídame usted que me mate... dígame, ¿no le parece a usted que ciertas personas harían mejor en irse?  
"I mean it... it's better... ask me to kill myself... tell me, don't you think certain people would do better to go away?"
> Command + subjunctive: «pídame» is the «usted» command of «pedir» ('ask me'), and «pedir que» pushes the dependent verb into the subjunctive: «que me mate» = 'to kill myself'. «harían mejor en irse» = 'would do better to leave', conditional of «hacer».

–No.  
"No."

–¿Aunque hagan lo peor?  
"Even if they do the worst thing?"
> «aunque» + subjunctive: «aunque» ('even if / although') takes the subjunctive when the outcome is hypothetical or unconceded: «aunque hagan lo peor» = 'even if they do the worst'. With a known fact, «aunque» would take the indicative instead.

–Eso está en manos de Dios.  
"That's in the hands of God."

–Entonces no vale la pena que hablemos de eso.  
"Then it's not worth our talking about that."
> «valer la pena que» + subjunctive: «valer la pena» = 'to be worth it'. When it governs another clause it takes the subjunctive: «no vale la pena que hablemos» = 'it's not worth (it) that we talk', 'it's not worth our talking'.

Otra vez tomaban el mate en silencio, un silencio que sobrevenía para que él pudiera gozar el espectáculo de la mujer de cabello rojo, envuelta en su abrigo de lutre, con las transparentes manos recogiendo la rodilla por sobre el vestido de seda verde.  
Again they drank the mate in silence, a silence that fell so that he could enjoy the spectacle of the red-haired woman, wrapped in her nutria coat, her transparent hands gathering her knee over the green silk dress.
> «para que» + subjunctive: «para que» ('so that') always takes the subjunctive: «para que él pudiera gozar» = 'so that he could enjoy'. Whenever the purpose involves a different subject, Spanish switches from «para» + infinitive to «para que» + subjunctive.

Y de pronto, no pudiendo contener su curiosidad, exclamó:  
And suddenly, unable to contain his curiosity, he exclaimed:

–¿Es cierto que usted ha sido sirvienta?  
"Is it true that you were a servant?"
> Present perfect: «ha sido» is the present perfect of «ser» ('you have been'). River Plate (Argentine) Spanish actually favors the simple preterite over the present perfect. This usage — extending the present perfect back into a fully finished past — is more typical of Peninsular Spanish; in Buenos Aires one would more commonly hear «fue sirvienta». Here the present perfect underlines the continued relevance of the fact.

–Sí... ¿qué tiene de particular?  
"Yes... what's so strange about that?"
> «¿qué tiene de particular?»: An idiom: 'what's odd/special about it?', 'what does it matter?'. «tener de + adjective» asks what quality a thing has — «tener de particular» = to have anything peculiar about it.

–¡Qué raro!  
"How strange!"

–¿Por qué?  
"Why?"

–Sí, es raro.  
"Yes, it's strange."
A veces me parece que voy a encontrar en otra vida lo que falta en la mía.  
"Sometimes it seems to me that I'm going to find in another life what is missing in mine."
Y se le ocurre a uno que hay gentes que han descubierto el secreto de la felicidad... y que si nos cuentan un secreto nosotros también seremos felices. –Mi vida, sin embargo, no es ningún secreto.  
"And it occurs to one that there are people who have discovered the secret of happiness... and that if they tell us a secret we too will be happy." — "My life, however, is no secret at all."
> Impersonal «uno» + «se»: «uno» is the impersonal 'one'. «se le ocurre a uno» = 'it occurs to one' — the thing that comes to mind is the grammatical subject, and «a uno» is who it strikes. A favorite Spanish way to generalize from personal feeling.

–¿Pero usted nunca sintió la extrañeza de vivir?  
"But have you never felt the strangeness of being alive?"

–Sí, eso sí.  
"Yes, that I have."

–Cuénteme.  
"Tell me."
> Command with attached pronoun: «Cuénteme» = «cuente» (formal command of «contar», 'tell') + «me» attached = 'tell me'. Affirmative commands attach the object pronoun and add a written accent to keep the stress.

–Fue cuando era muchachita.  
"It was when I was a young girl."
> Preterite vs. imperfect: «Fue» (preterite) pins the happening as a single point — 'it was [then]'; «era muchachita» (imperfect) paints the ongoing backdrop — 'I was a young girl (at that stage of life)'. The contrast of the two past tenses is the engine of Spanish narration.
Trabajaba en una linda casa de la Avenida Alvear.  
"I worked in a lovely house on Avenida Alvear."
Había tres niñas y cuatro sirvientas.  
"There were three young ladies and four servants."
Y yo me despertaba a la mañana y no terminaba de convencerme de que era yo la que me movía entre esos muebles que no me pertenecían y esa gente que sólo me hablaba para que yo la sirviera.  
"And I would wake in the morning and could not quite convince myself that it was I who moved among that furniture which did not belong to me and those people who only spoke to me so that I would serve them."
Y a momentos me parecía que los otros estaban bien clavados en la vida, y en sus casas, mientras que yo tenía la sensación de estar suelta, ligeramente atada con un cordón a la vida.  
"And at moments it seemed to me that the others were firmly nailed into life, and into their homes, while I had the sensation of being loose, barely tied to life by a little cord."
Y las voces de los otros sonaban en mis oídos como cuando una está dormida y no sabe si sueña o está despierta.  
"And the voices of the others sounded in my ears like when you're asleep and don't know whether you're dreaming or awake."
> Feminine «una» as 'one': A woman speaking generally about herself uses the feminine impersonal «una» ('one'): «cuando una está dormida» = 'when one [a woman] is asleep'. Men use «uno»; Hipólita naturally uses «una» throughout her story.

–Debe ser triste.  
"It must be sad."
> «deber» for probability: «deber + infinitive» (without «de») expresses obligation, but in speech «debe ser» very often means 'it must be / it's probably' — a guess: «Debe ser triste» = 'It must be sad'.

–Sí, es muy triste ver felices a los otros y ver que los otros no comprenden que una será desdichada para toda la vida.  
"Yes, it's very sad to see the others happy and to see that the others don't understand that one will be wretched for the whole of one's life."
Me acuerdo que a la hora de la siesta entraba a mi piecita y en vez de zurcir mi ropa, pensaba: ¿yo seré sirvienta toda la vida?  
"I remember that at siesta time I would go into my little room and, instead of mending my clothes, I would think: will I be a servant my whole life?"
> «acordarse de» — to remember: «acordarse (de)» is a pronominal verb for 'to remember': «me acuerdo» = 'I remember'. In careful speech it takes «de» («me acuerdo de que...»); colloquially the «de» is often dropped, as here.
Y ya no me cansaba el trabajo, sino mis pensamientos.  
"And it was no longer the work that wore me out, but my thoughts."
> «no... sino»: «sino» ('but rather') corrects a negative: «no me cansaba el trabajo, sino mis pensamientos» = 'it wasn't the work that tired me, but rather my thoughts'. Use «sino» (not «pero») to replace what the «no» just denied.
¿Usted no se ha fijado qué obstinados son los pensamientos tristes?  
"Haven't you noticed how stubborn sad thoughts are?"
> «fijarse» — to notice: «fijarse (en)» is a pronominal verb meaning 'to notice', 'to pay attention to'. «¿No se ha fijado...?» = 'Haven't you noticed...?'. Don't confuse it with «fijar» (to fasten/fix).

–Sí, no se van nunca.  
"Yes, they never go away."
¿Qué edad tenía usted entonces?  
"How old were you then?"
> Age with «tener»: Spanish expresses age with «tener» ('to have'), not «ser»: «¿Qué edad tenía usted?» = literally 'what age did you have?', i.e. 'how old were you?'. The imperfect «tenía» sets the age as a state at that past time.

–Dieciséis años.  
"Sixteen years old."

–¿Y no se había acostado ya con ningún hombre?  
"And you hadn't yet slept with any man?"
> Pluperfect: «se había acostado» is the pluperfect (past perfect): «haber» in the imperfect + past participle = 'you had slept'. It marks an action completed before the past moment under discussion. «acostarse con» = to sleep with.

–No... pero estaba rabiosa... rabiosa de ser sirvienta para toda la vida... además, había algo que me impresionaba más que todo.  
"No... but I was furious... furious at being a servant for the whole of my life... besides, there was something that affected me more than anything."
Era uno de los niños.  
"It was one of the young men of the house."
> «los niños» of the house: Here «niños» does not mean 'small children' but the young master/mistress of the household — the employers' grown sons and daughters whom the servants address deferentially. The «niño» she means is a young man courting his cousin.
Estaba de novio y era muy católico.  
"He was engaged and very Catholic."
> «estar de novio»: «estar de novio/a» = to be engaged or in a serious courtship. «novio» can mean boyfriend, fiancé, or groom depending on context.
Yo lo sorprendí acariciándose más de una vez con una prima que era su novia, ahora me doy cuenta: una muchacha sensual, y me preguntaba cómo era posible conciliar el catolicismo con esas porquerías.  
"More than once I caught him caressing a cousin of his who was his fiancée — now I realize: a sensual girl — and I would ask myself how it was possible to reconcile Catholicism with those filthy things."
> «darse cuenta de»: «darse cuenta (de)» means 'to realize', to become aware. «ahora me doy cuenta» = 'now I realize'. Don't confuse it with «realizar», which means 'to carry out / accomplish', not 'to realize' mentally.

Involuntariamente terminé por espiarlo... pero él, que era tan asiduo con su novia, era correctísimo conmigo.  
"Without meaning to, I ended up spying on him... but he, who was so attentive with his fiancée, was utterly correct with me."
> The «-ísimo» superlative: Adding «-ísimo/a» to an adjective gives an absolute, intensified superlative: «correcto» → «correctísimo» = 'utterly / extremely correct'. It's stronger and more emphatic than «muy correcto».
Después me di cuenta que lo había deseado... pero era tarde... yo estaba en otra casa...  
"Afterward I realized that I had desired him... but it was too late... I was in another house..."

–¿Y?...  
"And?..."

Siempre con el peso de mis ideas.  
"Always with the weight of my own ideas."
¿Qué era lo que quería de la vida?  
"What was it that I wanted from life?"
¿Entonces no lo sabía?  
"Did I not know it back then?"
En todas partes fueron amables conmigo.  
"Everywhere they were kind to me."
Más tarde he oído hablar mal de la gente rica... pero yo no supe ver esa maldad.  
"Later I have heard people speak ill of the rich... but I was never able to see that wickedness."
> «saber» in the preterite: In the preterite «saber» often means 'to find out / manage to': «no supe ver» = 'I couldn't manage to see / I never came to see'. The imperfect «sabía» would instead mean the ongoing 'I knew'.
Ellos vivían así.  
"They lived like that."
¿Qué necesidad tenían de ser malos, no es cierto?  
"What need did they have to be cruel, isn't that so?"
Ellas eran las niñas y yo la sirvienta.  
"They were the young ladies and I the servant."

–¿Y?  
"And?"

–Recuerdo que un día iba en el tranvía acompañando a una de mis patronas.  
"I remember that one day I was riding on the streetcar, accompanying one of my mistresses."
En el asiento venían conversando dos mozos.  
"On the seat, two young men were riding along talking."
¿Usted ha observado que hay días en que ciertas palabras suenan en los oídos como bombos... como si una hubiera estado siempre sorda y por primera vez oyera hablar a las personas?  
"Have you noticed that there are days when certain words sound in your ears like drums... as if one had always been deaf and were hearing people speak for the first time?"
> «como si» + pluperfect subjunctive: «como si» plus the pluperfect subjunctive describes an unreal past comparison: «como si una hubiera estado siempre sorda» = 'as if one had always been deaf'. Then «oyera» (imperfect subjunctive) carries the parallel 'and were hearing'.
Bueno.  
"Well."
Uno de los mozos decía: «Una mujer inteligente, aunque fuere fea, si se diera a la mala vida se enriquecería y si no se enamorara de nadie podría ser la reina de una ciudad.  
"One of the young men was saying: 'An intelligent woman, even if she were ugly, if she took to the life of vice would grow rich, and if she fell in love with no one could be the queen of a city."
> The future subjunctive «fuere»: «fuere» is the future subjunctive of «ser» — a form almost extinct in speech, surviving in proverbs and legalese: «aunque fuere fea» = 'even were she ugly'. Its rare, formal flavor lends the overheard sentence the ring of a maxim.
> «la mala vida»: Literally 'the bad life', but here a euphemism for prostitution — 'a life of vice'. The phrase becomes the obsessive refrain of Hipólita's story; the chapter circles around what «la mala vida» really means to her.
Si yo tuviera una hermana, la aconsejaría así».  
"'If I had a sister, that's how I would advise her.'"
> Classic conditional sentence: The textbook hypothetical: «si» + imperfect subjunctive «tuviera» ('if I had') paired with the conditional «aconsejaría» ('I would advise'). It describes a situation contrary to fact — he has no sister.
Al escucharlo, yo me quedé fría en el asiento.  
"On hearing it, I went cold in my seat."
Estas palabras derritieron instantáneamente mi timidez y cuando llegamos al final del viaje me parecía que no eran los desconocidos los que habían pronunciado esas palabras, sino yo, yo que no me acordaba de ellas hasta ese momento.  
"These words instantly melted my shyness, and when we reached the end of the ride it seemed to me that it was not the strangers who had spoken those words, but I, I who had not remembered them until that moment."
Y durante muchos días me preocupó el problema de cómo ser una mujer de mala vida.  
"And for many days the problem of how to become a woman of the bad life weighed on me."

Erdosain sonrió:  
Erdosain smiled:

–¡Qué maravilla!  
"How marvelous!"

–El primer mensual que cobré lo gasté en un montón de libros que hablaban de la mala vida.  
"The first month's wages I collected, I spent on a pile of books that talked about the bad life."
> «el mensual»: Here «mensual» is used as a noun for the monthly wage or pay — «el primer mensual que cobré» = 'the first month's pay I received'. As an adjective «mensual» simply means 'monthly'.
Me equivoqué, porque casi todos eran libros pornográficos... estúpidos... ésa no era la mala vida, sino la mala vida del placer... Y, quiere creerme, ninguna de mis amigas sabía explicarme, en substancia, lo que era la mala vida.  
"I was mistaken, because almost all of them were pornographic books... stupid ones... that wasn't the bad life, but the bad life of pleasure... And, will you believe me, not one of my friends could explain to me, in essence, what the bad life was."
> «equivocarse» — to be wrong: «equivocarse» is a pronominal verb meaning 'to make a mistake / be mistaken': «me equivoqué» = 'I was wrong, I made a mistake'. The preterite frames it as one realized error.

–Siga... ahora no me extraña que Ergueta se haya enamorado de usted.  
"Go on... now it doesn't surprise me that Ergueta fell in love with you."
> Subjunctive after emotion: Expressions of surprise or reaction («me extraña que», 'it surprises me that') take the subjunctive — here the present perfect subjunctive «se haya enamorado» ('that he has fallen in love'). «Siga» is the formal command of «seguir», 'go on'.
Usted es una mujer admirable. Hipólita sonrió ruborizada.  
"You are an admirable woman." Hipólita smiled, blushing.

–No exagere... soy una mujer sensata, nada más.  
"Don't exaggerate... I'm a sensible woman, nothing more."
> «sensato» — a false friend: «sensato/a» means 'sensible', 'level-headed', NOT 'sensitive'. (Spanish 'sensitive' is «sensible».) «soy una mujer sensata» = 'I'm a sensible woman'.

–Cuente, la deliciosa criatura.  
"Go on telling, you delightful creature."

–¡Qué chico es usted!... Bueno –Hipólita cerró las solapas del abrigo sobre su pecho y continuó–: Trabajaba como antes, todo el día, pero el trabajo se me hizo extraño... quiero decir, que mientras fregaba o hacía una cama, mi pensamiento estaba lejos y al mismo tiempo tan adentro de mí, que a momentos me parecía que si ese pensamiento se hacía más grande se me iba a reventar la piel.  
"What a child you are!... Well" — Hipólita drew the lapels of her coat closed over her chest and went on — "I worked as before, all day, but the work turned strange to me... I mean, that while I scrubbed or made a bed, my thought was far away and at the same time so deep inside me that at moments it seemed to me that if that thought grew any bigger my skin would burst."
> «chico» — young/childish: «chico» literally 'small', here means childish or young at heart: «¡Qué chico es usted!» = 'What a child you are!'. (As a noun «chico/a» means boy/girl.)
Pero el problema no se resolvía.  
"But the problem would not resolve itself."
Escribí a una librería preguntando si no tenía algún manual para ser una mujer de mala vida y no me contestaron, hasta que un día decidí verlo a un abogado para que me aclarara ese punto.  
"I wrote to a bookshop asking whether it had some manual for becoming a woman of the bad life, and they didn't answer me, until one day I decided to see a lawyer so that he might clear up that point for me."
> «para que» + imperfect subjunctive: Purpose in the past: «para que me aclarara ese punto» = 'so that he might clear up that point for me'. «para que» takes the subjunctive, and a past main clause pulls it into the imperfect subjunctive «aclarara».
Fui hasta los tribunales y di vueltas por un montón de calles, miraba una chapa, otra, otra, hasta que, enfilando por la calle Juncal, me detuve ante una casa lujosa, hablé con el portero y me llevó en presencia de un doctor en leyes.  
"I went up to the courts and wandered through a lot of streets, looking at one nameplate, another, another, until, heading down Juncal street, I stopped before a luxurious house, spoke with the doorman, and he led me into the presence of a doctor of laws."
> «dar vueltas»: «dar vueltas» = to wander around, go round and round, walk in circles. «di vueltas por un montón de calles» = 'I wandered through a lot of streets'. «di» is the preterite of «dar».
Me acuerdo como si fuera hoy.  
"I remember it as if it were today."
Era un hombre delgado, serio, tenía toda la cara de un bandido perverso, pero al sonreír su alma parecía la de un mocoso.  
"He was a thin man, serious, he had the whole face of a wicked bandit, but when he smiled his soul seemed that of a little boy."
> «mocoso»: «mocoso» (literally 'snotty-nosed') is a familiar, slightly mocking word for a small kid or brat. Here «el alma... de un mocoso» = 'the soul of a little boy' — the bandit's face hiding a child's innocence.
Más tarde, pensando, llegué a la conclusión de que ese hombre debió sufrir mucho.  
"Later, thinking it over, I came to the conclusion that that man must have suffered a great deal."

Chupó largamente el mate, luego, devolviéndoselo, dijo:  
She drew long on the mate, then, handing it back to him, she said:
> Gerund with two pronouns: «devolviéndoselo» = «devolviendo» ('giving back') + «se» ('to him') + «lo» ('it'). When pronouns attach to a gerund, both stack on the end and a written accent keeps the stress: 'handing it back to him'.

–¡Qué calor hace aquí!  
"How hot it is in here!"
> Weather with «hacer»: Spanish describes weather and temperature with «hacer» ('to make/do'): «hace calor» = 'it is hot'. «¡Qué calor hace aquí!» = 'How hot it is in here!'. Heat is something the air 'makes', not something it 'is'.
¿Quiere abrir la ventana?  
"Will you open the window?"

Erdosain entreabrió una hoja.  
Erdosain opened one pane partway.
Llovía aún.  
It was still raining.
Hipólita continuó:  
Hipólita went on:

–Sin inmutarme, le dije: «Doctor, vengo a verlo porque quiero saber lo que es la mala vida».  
"Without flinching, I said to him: 'Doctor, I've come to see you because I want to know what the bad life is.'"
> «inmutarse»: «inmutarse» means to be perturbed, to flinch, to lose one's composure. «sin inmutarme» = 'without flinching / without batting an eye'. It is almost always used in the negative.
El otro se quedó mirándome asombrado.  
"The man sat there staring at me, astonished."
Después de reflexionar unos momentos, me dijo: «¿Con qué objeto desea usted saberlo?»  
"After reflecting for a few moments, he said to me: 'For what purpose do you wish to know it?'"
> «¿con qué objeto?»: A formal way to ask the purpose of something: «¿con qué objeto?» = 'for what purpose? / to what end?'. The lawyer's careful, lawyerly register suits the phrase.
Yo le expliqué tranquilamente mis propósitos y él me escuchaba con atención, frunciendo el ceño, cavilando mis palabras.  
"I calmly explained my intentions to him and he listened to me attentively, frowning, mulling over my words."
Por fin dijo: «En la mujer se llama mala vida los actos sexuales ejecutados sin amor y para lucrar».  
"At last he said: 'In a woman, what is called the bad life is sexual acts performed without love and for profit.'"
> Impersonal/passive «se»: «se llama» here is the impersonal/passive «se»: 'is called', with no named agent. The lawyer defines a term as if reading from a code — «se llama mala vida los actos...» = 'what is called the bad life is the acts...'.
Es decir, repuse yo, que mediante la mala vida, una se libra del cuerpo... y queda libre.  
"That is to say, I replied, that by means of the bad life, one frees herself of the body... and is left free."
> «librarse de»: «librarse de» = to free oneself of, to get rid of. «una se libra del cuerpo» = 'one frees herself of the body'. The pronominal «se» plus «de» turns 'free' into 'free oneself from'.

–¿Usted le contestó eso?  
"You answered him that?"

–Sí.  
"Yes."

–¡Qué raro!  
"How strange!"

–¿Por qué?  
"Why?"

–¿Y luego?  
"And then?"

–Casi sin despedirme, salí a la calle.  
"Almost without saying goodbye, I went out into the street."
> «despedirse» — to say goodbye: «despedirse (de)» is a pronominal verb meaning 'to say goodbye, take one's leave': «sin despedirme» = 'without saying goodbye'. (Non-reflexive «despedir» means 'to dismiss / fire' someone.)
Estaba contenta, nunca estuve más contenta que ese día.  
"I was happy, I was never happier than I was that day."
La mala vida.  
"The bad life."
Erdosain, era eso, librarse del cuerpo, tener la voluntad libre para realizar todas las cosas que se le antojaran a una.  
"Erdosain, that's what it was, to free oneself of the body, to have the will free to do all the things one might take a fancy to."
> «antojarse» + subjunctive: «antojarse» = to take a fancy to, to feel like (something): «se le antoja» = 'one feels like it'. In this relative clause of unknown things the verb goes subjunctive: «que se le antojaran a una» = 'whatever one might feel like'.
Me sentía tan feliz que al primer buen mozo que pasó y que me deseó con bonitas palabras, me entregué.  
"I felt so happy that to the first good-looking fellow who came by and desired me with pretty words, I gave myself."
> «buen mozo»: «buen mozo» = a good-looking, handsome young man. «mozo» on its own can mean a lad, a waiter, or a single young man depending on context; «buen mozo» fixes it as 'handsome'.

–¿Y luego?  
"And then?"

–¡Qué sorpresa!, cuando el hombre... ya le dije que era un guapo mozo, cayó como una res después de satisfacerse.  
"What a surprise!, when the man... I already told you he was a handsome fellow, he dropped like a slaughtered animal after satisfying himself."
> «res»: A «res» is a head of cattle, a beast for slaughter. «cayó como una res» = 'he dropped like a felled beast' — a brutal, deflating image of the man collapsing, fitting Hipólita's cool disillusion.
Lo primero que se me ocurrió fue que estaba enfermo... nunca me imaginaba eso.  
"The first thing that occurred to me was that he was ill... I had never imagined that."
Mas cuando el otro me explicó que aquello era natural en todos los hombres, no pude contener las ganas de reír.  
"But when the man explained to me that that was natural in all men, I couldn't hold back the urge to laugh."
> «tener/contener las ganas de»: «ganas de + infinitive» = the urge or desire to do something. «no pude contener las ganas de reír» = 'I couldn't hold back the urge to laugh'. «tener ganas de» = 'to feel like'.
Así que el hombre, cuya fortaleza parecía inmensa como la de un toro... en fin, ¿usted nunca vio a un ladrón en una pieza llena de oro?  
"So the man, whose strength seemed immense, like a bull's... in short, have you never seen a thief in a room full of gold?"
En ese momento yo, la sirvienta, era el ladrón en la pieza llena de oro.  
"At that moment I, the servant, was the thief in the room full of gold."
Y comprendí que el mundo era mío... Después, antes de lanzarme a la prostitución, resolví estudiar... sí, no me mire asombrado, leía de todo... había llegado a la conclusión leyendo novelas, que el hombre admitía extraordinarias facultades de amor en la mujer culta... no sé si me explico bien... quiero decirle que la cultura era un disfraz que avaloraba a la mercadería.  
"And I understood that the world was mine... Afterward, before throwing myself into prostitution, I resolved to study... yes, don't look at me astonished, I read everything... I had come to the conclusion, reading novels, that men granted extraordinary powers of love to the cultivated woman... I don't know if I'm explaining myself well... I mean to tell you that culture was a disguise that raised the value of the merchandise."
> Negative formal command: «no me mire» = 'don't look at me' (formal). Negative commands use the subjunctive («mire») and place the object pronoun («me») BEFORE the verb — the opposite of affirmative commands, where it attaches to the end («míreme»).

–¿Encontró placer usted en la posesión?  
"Did you find pleasure in the act of possession?"

–No... pero volviendo a lo primero: leía de todo.  
"No... but going back to the first point: I read everything."

Erdosain se sintió entusiasmado por el cinismo de la mujer, y enternecido, le dijo:  
Erdosain felt enthralled by the woman's cynicism, and, moved to tenderness, said to her:
> «enternecerse»: «enternecer» means to move to tenderness, to soften the heart; «enternecido» = 'moved, touched, tender'. The root is «tierno» ('tender'). Erdosain is at once thrilled by her cynicism and softened by it.

–¿Me quiere dar su mano?  
"Will you give me your hand?"

Ella se la entregó, seria.  
She handed it to him, grave.

Erdosain la tomó con precaución; luego la llevó a los labios y ella ya lo miró largamente; mas Remo de pronto recordó al encadenado; él estaría ahora despierto en el establo, y sin que esto pudiera vencer la dulzura que amodorraba sus sentidos, dijo:  
Erdosain took it cautiously; then he raised it to his lips and she now looked at him a long while; but Remo suddenly remembered the chained man; he would be awake now in the stable, and without this being able to overcome the sweetness that lulled his senses, he said:

–Mira, si vos... si usted me pidiera ahora que me matara, lo haría encantado.  
"Look, if you... if you were to ask me right now to kill myself, I'd do it gladly."
> «vos» slipping into «usted»: Erdosain begins with «Mira» (the tú imperative — not vos; the vos form would be «mirá» with accent) and the voseo pronoun «si vos», then immediately corrects himself to the formal «si usted». The slip and recovery mark the wavering distance between them — closeness breaking through, then caught.

Largamente lo miró ella a través de sus pestañas rojas.  
She looked at him a long while through her red lashes.

–Se lo digo en serio.  
"I'm telling you in earnest."
Mañana... hoy... es mejor... pídame que me mate...dígame, ¿no le parece a usted que cierta gente debería irse de la tierra?  
"Tomorrow... today... it's better... ask me to kill myself... tell me, don't you think that certain people ought to leave the earth?"
> «debería» — soft 'ought': «debería» is the conditional of «deber», softening 'must' to 'ought to / should': «cierta gente debería irse» = 'certain people ought to leave'. The conditional makes the heavy claim sound like a tentative opinion.

–No... eso no se hace.  
"No... that isn't done."
> Impersonal «se»: «eso no se hace» = 'that isn't done', 'one doesn't do that'. The impersonal «se» states a general rule of conduct without naming who — a common way to voice a moral norm.

–¿Aunque lleguen a ser bandidos?  
"Even if they should turn into bandits?"
> «llegar a ser»: «llegar a ser» = to come to be, to end up being, to become (after a process). With «aunque» it goes subjunctive: «aunque lleguen a ser bandidos» = 'even if they should become bandits'.

–¿Quién puede juzgar a otro?  
"Who can judge another?"
> Personal «a»: When the direct object is a specific person, Spanish inserts «a» before it: «juzgar a otro» = 'to judge another (person)'. This 'personal a' has no English equivalent — it just flags a human object.

–Entonces no hablemos más.  
"Then let's not talk any more."
> «nosotros» command (let's): First-person-plural commands ('let's...') use the subjunctive: «hablemos» = 'let's talk', and negated, «no hablemos más» = 'let's not talk any more'. It's how Spanish says 'let us do / not do' something.

–Otra vez chupaban en silencio la bombilla.  
Once again they sipped the straw in silence.
Erdosain comprendía la dulzura de muchas cosas.  
Erdosain understood the sweetness of many things.
La miró, luego dijo:  
He looked at her, then said:

–¡Qué criatura extraña es usted!  
"What a strange creature you are!"

Ella sonrió halagada, y una fiesta entró en el alma de él.  
She smiled, flattered, and a festival entered his soul.
> «halagar» — to flatter: «halagar» means to flatter or please; «halagada» = 'flattered, pleased'.

–¿Quiere que ponga más yerba?  
"Would you like me to put in more yerba?"
> Subjunctive of «poner»: «ponga» is the present subjunctive of «poner» ('to put') — irregular, built on the «pong-» stem. After «querer que» it is required: «¿Quiere que ponga más yerba?» = 'Do you want me to put in more yerba?'.

–Sí.  
"Yes."

De pronto Hipólita lo miró seria.  
Suddenly Hipólita looked at him, grave.

–¿De dónde sacó usted esa alma que tiene?  
"Where did you get that soul of yours?"
> «sacar»: «sacar» = to take out, get, pull from. «¿De dónde sacó usted esa alma?» = 'Where did you get that soul?'. «sacó» is the preterite of «sacar» (spelled with «c»→«qu» only before «e/i», e.g. «saqué»).

Erdosain iba a hablar de sus sufrimientos, pero se retuvo por pudor y dijo:  
Erdosain was about to speak of his sufferings, but held himself back out of modesty and said:
> «pudor»: «pudor» is a sense of shame, modesty, or reticence — the reluctance to expose something private. «se retuvo por pudor» = 'he held back out of modesty / decency'.

–No sé... muchas veces pensaba en la pureza... yo hubiera querido ser un hombre puro –y entusiasmándose, continuó–: Muchas veces sentí la tristeza de no ser un hombre puro.  
"I don't know... many times I would think about purity... I would have wanted to be a pure man" — and growing impassioned, he went on — "Many times I felt the sadness of not being a pure man."
> Pluperfect subjunctive as wish: «hubiera querido» (pluperfect subjunctive of «querer») expresses an unfulfilled past wish: 'I would have wanted / I wish I had'. It looks back at something that never came to be — here, being a pure man.
¿Por qué?  
"Why?"
No lo sé.  
"I don't know."
¿Pero se imagina usted un hombre de alma blanca, enamorado por vez primera... y que todos fueran iguales?  
"But can you imagine a man with a white soul, in love for the first time... and that everyone were like that?"
> «imaginarse»: «imaginarse» (pronominal) = 'to imagine, to picture (to oneself)'. The added «se» makes it more vivid and personal: «¿se imagina usted...?» = 'can you imagine...?'. The dependent «que todos fueran iguales» goes subjunctive as a wished, unreal scene.
¿Se imagina usted qué amor enorme entre una mujer pura y un hombre puro?  
"Can you imagine what an enormous love between a pure woman and a pure man?"
Entonces, antes de entregarse el uno al otro, se matarían... o no; sería ella la que se ofrecería un día a él... luego se suicidarían, comprendiendo la inutilidad de vivir sin ilusiones.  
"Then, before giving themselves to one another, they would kill themselves... or no; it would be she who would one day offer herself to him... then they would commit suicide, understanding the futility of living without illusions."
> «el uno al otro» — each other: «el uno al otro» expresses reciprocity, 'one another / each other'. «entregarse el uno al otro» = 'to give themselves to one another'. The strings of conditionals («se matarían», «se ofrecería», «se suicidarían») all project an imagined fate.

–Sin embargo, eso no es posible.  
"Nevertheless, that isn't possible."

–Pero existe.  
"But it exists."
¿No ha visto usted cuántos tenderos y modistas se suicidan juntos?  
"Haven't you seen how many shopkeepers and dressmakers commit suicide together?"
> «tenderos y modistas»: «tendero» = shopkeeper; «modista» = dressmaker, seamstress. Erdosain names the small humble trades — exactly the modest lovers he imagines dying together for an impossible purity.
Se quisieron... no pueden casarse... van a un hotel... ella se entrega y luego se matan.  
"They loved each other... they can't marry... they go to a hotel... she gives herself and then they kill themselves."
> Reciprocal «se» with «querer»: «quererse» here is reciprocal: «se quisieron» = 'they loved each other'. «querer» means 'to love' (of people) as well as 'to want'. The preterite frames the love as a completed shared story.

–Sí, pero lo hacen de inconscientes.  
"Yes, but they do it out of unawareness."

–Quizá.  
"Perhaps."

–¿Dónde cenó usted anoche? Habló Erdosain de los Espila, explicándole la caída de esa gente en la miseria.  
"Where did you have dinner last night?" Erdosain spoke of the Espilas, explaining to her the fall of those people into destitution.
> «cenar» — to dine: «cenar» = to have dinner/supper. «¿Dónde cenó usted anoche?» = 'Where did you dine last night?'. «cenó» is the «usted» preterite. (Related: «la cena», dinner.)

–¿Y por qué no trabajan?  
"And why don't they work?"

–¿De dónde sacar trabajo?  
"Where is one to get work?"
Lo buscan y no encuentran.  
"They look for it and don't find any."
Eso es lo terrible.  
"That's the terrible part."
> Neuter «lo» + adjective: «lo» + a masculine adjective makes an abstract noun: «lo terrible» = 'the terrible thing / what is terrible'. Spanish uses neuter «lo» to turn any adjective into 'the ___ part / aspect'.
Hasta me pareció observar que la miseria había destruido en ellos el deseo de vivir.  
"I even thought I observed that destitution had destroyed in them the very desire to live."
El sordo Eustaquio tiene talento para las matemáticas... sabe cálculo infinitesimal; pero eso no le sirve para nada.  
"Deaf Eustaquio has a talent for mathematics... he knows infinitesimal calculus; but that's of no use to him at all."
> «servir para»: «servir para» = 'to be useful/good for'. «no le sirve para nada» = 'it's no use to him at all'. The double negative («no... nada») is standard and correct in Spanish.
El «Don Quijote» también se lo sabe de memoria... pero debe tener algo descentrado en el entendimiento... se lo pintará este hecho: a los dieciséis años lo mandaron a comprar yerba y fue a una botica en vez de ir a un almacén.  
"He also knows Don Quixote by heart... but he must have something off-center in his understanding... this fact will paint it for you: at sixteen they sent him to buy yerba and he went to a pharmacy instead of to a grocer's."
> «saber de memoria»: «saber (algo) de memoria» = 'to know something by heart'. «se lo sabe de memoria» = 'he knows it by heart'. The extra «se» adds a sense of thorough, personal mastery.

Después de muchas explicaciones dijo que la yerba era un producto medicinal... que así lo había estudiado en botánica.  
"After much explaining, he said that yerba was a medicinal product... that he had studied it that way in botany."

–No tiene sentido práctico.  
"He has no practical sense."

–Eso mismo.  
"That's exactly it."
Además, es jugador caviloso... para resolver un acertijo es capaz de perder la comida y cuando tiene algunos centavos entra a las confiterías a atracarse de dulces.  
"Besides, he's a brooding gambler... to solve a riddle he's capable of missing a meal, and when he has a few cents he goes into the cafés to stuff himself with sweets."
> «atracarse de»: «atracarse de» = to stuff/gorge oneself with (food). «atracarse de dulces» = 'to stuff himself with sweets'. A «confitería» is a café-pastry shop, an institution of Buenos Aires.

–¡Qué raro!  
"How strange!"

–En cambio, Emilio es buen muchacho.  
"Emilio, on the other hand, is a good fellow."
> «en cambio»: «en cambio» = 'on the other hand', 'by contrast'. It pivots from one case to a contrasting one: deaf Eustaquio versus Emilio.
Tiene... así me lo ha dicho, la certidumbre de que ese estado psíquico de ellos, abúlico y extraño, es consecuencia hereditaria, y sobre esa base rige toda su vida, se mueve con la lentitud de una tortuga.  
"He has — so he has told me — the certainty that that psychic state of theirs, listless and strange, is a hereditary consequence, and on that basis he governs his whole life, moving with the slowness of a tortoise."
> «abúlico»: «abúlico» = lacking will, listless, apathetic (from «abulia», an absence of willpower). It names exactly the paralysis of desire Arlt's characters keep sinking into.
Es capaz de tardar dos horas en vestirse... parece que todas sus cosas las hace en una atmósfera de indecisión extraordinaria.  
"He's capable of taking two hours to dress... it seems he does everything in an atmosphere of extraordinary indecision."
> «tardar en» + infinitive: «tardar (tiempo) en + infinitive» = to take (so long) to do something: «tardar dos horas en vestirse» = 'to take two hours to get dressed'. The «en» is required before the infinitive.

–¿Y las hermanas?  
"And the sisters?"

–Las pobres hacen lo que pueden... cosen... una cuida en la casa de una amiga un chico hidrocéfalo con la cabeza más grande que un melón.  
"The poor things do what they can... they sew... one of them looks after, at a friend's house, a hydrocephalic boy with a head bigger than a melon."
> «pobre» before/after the noun: «pobre» means 'poor (penniless)' after a noun, but 'poor (pitiable)' before it. «las pobres» here = 'the poor things' — an expression of pity, not of poverty.

–¡Qué horror!  
"How dreadful!"

–Lo que no me explico es cómo se acostumbraron a todo aquello.  
"What I can't explain to myself is how they got used to all of that."
> «acostumbrarse a»: «acostumbrarse a» = to get used to, grow accustomed to. «se acostumbraron a todo aquello» = 'they got used to all of that'. The «a» links the verb to what one gets used to.
Por eso después que los visité, sentí la gran necesidad de ilusionarlos... y como yo hablaba bastante bien, lo conseguí.  
"That's why, after I visited them, I felt the great need to fill them with hope... and since I spoke rather well, I managed it."
> «ilusionar»: «ilusionar» = to fill with hope, excite, make (someone) dream; «ilusión» is hopeful expectation, not 'illusion' in the deceptive sense. «ilusionarlos» = 'to fill them with hope'.
Y se dedicaron a la rosa de cobre.  
"And they devoted themselves to the copper rose."
> «dedicarse a»: «dedicarse a» = to devote oneself to, to take up (an activity). «se dedicaron a la rosa de cobre» = 'they devoted themselves to the copper rose' — Erdosain's hopeless inventor's scheme, his gift of an illusion to them.

–¿Qué es eso?  
"What is that?"

Erdosain le explicó sus cavilaciones de inventor.  
Erdosain explained to her his musings as an inventor.
> «cavilar» / «cavilaciones»: «cavilar» = to ponder, brood, turn something over obsessively in the mind; «cavilaciones» = ruminations, broodings. The word recurs around Erdosain, whose mind never stops grinding.
Había sido al comienzo, poco después que se casó, cuando soñaba enriquecerse con un descubrimiento.  
It had been at the beginning, shortly after he married, when he dreamed of growing rich with some discovery.
> «enriquecerse»: «enriquecerse» = to grow rich, to get rich (pronominal). «soñaba enriquecerse» = 'he dreamed of getting rich'. The «-ecerse» pattern turns 'rich' («rico») into the process of becoming rich.
Su imaginación ocupaba las noches de máquinas extraordinarias, trozos incompletos de mecanismos girando sus engranajes lubrificados...  
His imagination filled his nights with extraordinary machines, incomplete fragments of mechanisms turning their lubricated gears...

–¿Pero entonces usted es inventor?...  
"But then you're an inventor?..."

–No... ahora no... aquello tuvo importancia para mí.  
"No... not now... that had importance for me."
Hubo una época en que tenía el hambre... la terrible hambre del dinero... posiblemente estuviera enfermo de una locura que ha cambiado... Ahora, cuando yo les hablé a ellos de eso, no era porque me interesaba el asunto económicamente, sino porque necesitaba verlos ilusionados, necesitaba ver con mis ojos esas pobres muchachas soñando con vestidos de seda, en un novio buen mozo, y con un automóvil a la puerta de un chalet que no tendrían.  
"There was a time when I had the hunger... the terrible hunger for money... possibly I was sick with a madness that has changed... Now, when I spoke to them about that, it wasn't because the matter interested me financially, but because I needed to see them filled with hope, I needed to see with my own eyes those poor girls dreaming of silk dresses, of a handsome fiancé, and of an automobile at the door of a chalet they would never have."
> Subjunctive after «posiblemente»: Adverbs of possibility like «posiblemente» take the subjunctive when the speaker is unsure: «posiblemente estuviera enfermo» = 'possibly I was sick'. «estuviera» is the imperfect subjunctive of «estar».

Y ahora estoy seguro que creen en todo eso.  
And now I'm sure they believe in all of that.

–¿Siempre fue usted así?  
"Were you always like this?"

–No, a veces.  
"No, only at times."
¿No le ha ocurrido a usted sentir en un momento dado el deseo de hacer obras de misericordia?  
"Has it never happened to you to feel, at a given moment, the desire to do works of mercy?"
> «ocurrírsele» / impersonal «ocurrir»: Here «ocurrir» is impersonal with an indirect object: «¿no le ha ocurrido... sentir...?» = 'has it not happened to you to feel...?'. The thing that happens (an infinitive clause) is the subject; «le» marks the person it happens to.
Me acuerdo ahora de este otro hecho.  
"I remember now this other incident."
Se lo cuento porque usted antes me preguntó qué alma era la mía.  
"I tell it to you because earlier you asked me what soul mine was."
Me acuerdo.  
"I remember."
Hace un año.  
"A year ago."
> «hace» + time = 'ago': «hace» + a span of time means 'ago': «hace un año» = 'a year ago'. The same «hacer» that makes weather also measures elapsed time.
Era un sábado, a las dos de la madrugada.  
"It was a Saturday, at two in the morning."
Recuerdo que estaba triste y entré en un prostíbulo.  
"I remember that I was sad and went into a brothel."
La sala llena de gente que esperaba turno.  
"The room full of people waiting their turn."
De pronto la puerta del dormitorio se abrió apareciendo la mujer... imagínese usted... una carita redonda de chica de dieciséis años... ojos celestes y una sonrisa de colegiala.  
"Suddenly the bedroom door opened and the woman appeared... just imagine... a round little face of a girl of sixteen... pale-blue eyes and a schoolgirl's smile."
> Reflexive command «imagínese»: «imagínese» = «imagine» (formal command of «imaginarse») + «se» attached: 'just imagine, picture it for yourself'. Affirmative commands attach the pronoun and add an accent to keep the stress.
Estaba envuelta en un tapado verde y era más bien alta... pero su carita era la de una colegiala... Ella miro en redor... ya era tarde; un negro espantoso, con labios de cartón, se levantó, y entonces ella, que nos había envuelto a todos en una promesa, retrocedió triste hacia el dormitorio, bajo la dura mirada de la regenta.  
"She was wrapped in a green overcoat and was rather tall... but her little face was that of a schoolgirl... She looked around... it was already too late; a frightful black man, with lips of cardboard, stood up, and then she, who had wrapped us all in a promise, drew back sadly toward the bedroom, under the madam's hard gaze."
> «más bien»: «más bien» = 'rather, somewhat', softening or qualifying: «era más bien alta» = 'she was rather tall'. It is not 'more well' — it tilts a description toward one side.

Erdosain se detuvo un momento, luego, con voz más pura y lenta, continuó:  
Erdosain stopped a moment, then, in a purer and slower voice, went on:

–Créame... es muy vergonzoso esperar en un prostíbulo.  
"Believe me... it's very shameful to wait in a brothel."
> «Créame»: «Créame» = «crea» (formal command of «creer», 'believe') + «me» attached = 'believe me'. The accent on «-é-» marks the stress kept after attaching the pronoun.
Nunca se siente uno más triste que allí adentro, rodeado de caras pálidas que quieren esconder con sonrisas falsas, huidas, la terrible urgencia carnal.  
"One never feels sadder than in there, surrounded by pale faces that want to hide, with false, furtive smiles, the terrible carnal urgency."
> Impersonal «uno» + «sentirse»: «se siente uno más triste» = 'one feels sadder'. «sentirse» ('to feel' a state) plus the impersonal «uno» generalizes the feeling to anyone — 'you / one never feel(s) sadder'.
Y hay algo además humillante... no se sabe lo que es... pero el tiempo corre en las orejas, mientras el oído afinado escucha el crujir de una cama allí dentro, luego, un silencio, más tarde, el ruido del lavado... pero antes de que nadie ocupara el sitio del negro, dejé mi silla y fui a la otra.  
"And there's something humiliating besides... one doesn't know what it is... but time runs in your ears, while the sharpened hearing makes out the creak of a bed in there, then a silence, later the sound of washing... but before anyone could take the black man's place, I left my chair and went to the other one."
> «antes de que» + subjunctive: «antes de que» ('before') always takes the subjunctive: «antes de que nadie ocupara el sitio» = 'before anyone took the place'. A past frame pulls it into the imperfect subjunctive «ocupara».
Esperaba con el corazón dando grandes golpes, y cuando ella apareció en el umbral yo me levanté.  
"I waited with my heart pounding great blows, and when she appeared in the doorway I stood up."

–Siempre eso... uno tras otro.  
"Always the same... one after another."

–Me levanté y entré, otra vez la puerta se cerró; dejé el dinero encima del lavatorio, y cuando ella iba a entreabrir su batón, yo la tomé de un brazo y le dije: «No, yo no he entrado para acostarme con vos».  
"I stood up and went in, again the door closed; I left the money on the washstand, and when she was about to open her dressing gown, I took her by an arm and said to her: 'No, I haven't come in to sleep with you.'"
> «batón»: A «batón» (also «bata») is a loose housecoat or dressing gown. The detail of her opening and later closing it carries the whole turn of the scene.

Ahora la voz de Erdosain había adquirido una fluidez vibrante.  
Now Erdosain's voice had taken on a vibrant fluency.

–Ella me miró y seguramente lo primero que pensó fue si yo no sería algún vicioso; mas mirándola seriamente, créame, estaba conmovido, le dije: «Mirá, entré porque me dabas lástima».  
"She looked at me and surely the first thing she thought was whether I might not be some pervert; but looking at her gravely, believe me, I was moved, I said to her: 'Look, I came in because you made me feel pity.'"
> Conditional for conjecture: «sería» (conditional) here voices a guess about the present: «si yo no sería algún vicioso» = 'whether I might be some pervert'. Spanish uses the conditional (and the future) to mark speculation. «Mirá» is the «vos» imperative — informal, intimate.
Ahora nos habíamos sentado junto a la consola de un espejo dorado, y ella, con su carita de colegiala, me examinaba gravemente.  
"By now we had sat down beside the console table of a gilded mirror, and she, with her schoolgirl's little face, examined me gravely."
¡Me acuerdo!... Como si fuera ahora.  
"I remember it!... As if it were now."
Le dije: «Sí, me dabas lástima. Yo ya sé que ganarás dos o tres mil pesos mensuales... y que hay familias que se darían por felices con tener lo que vos tiras en zapatos... ya lo sé... pero me diste lástima, una lástima enorme, viendo todo lo lindo que ultrajas en vos».  
"I said to her: 'Yes, you made me feel pity. I know very well that you earn two or three thousand pesos a month... and that there are families that would count themselves happy to have what you throw away on shoes... I know it... but you made me feel pity, an enormous pity, seeing all the lovely things you outrage in yourself.'"
> «dar lástima» — imperfect vs. preterite: «dar lástima» = 'to arouse pity'. «me dabas lástima» (imperfect) = 'you made me feel pity (as an ongoing impression)'; «me diste lástima» (preterite) = 'you made me feel pity (in that moment)'. The two tenses color the same feeling differently.
Ella me miraba en silencio, pero yo no tenía olor a vino. «Entonces pensé... se me ocurrió en seguida de que entró el negro, dejarte un recuerdo lindo... y el más lindo recuerdo que se me ocurrió dejarte fue éste... entrar y no tocarte... y vos después te acordarás siempre de ese gesto».  
"She watched me in silence, but I had no smell of wine on me. 'So I thought... it occurred to me right after the black man came in, to leave you a beautiful memory... and the most beautiful memory it occurred to me to leave you was this... to come in and not touch you... and you will always remember that gesture afterward.'"
Fíjese que en tanto yo hablaba, el batón de la prostituta se había entreabierto encima de sus senos, mientras que sobre la pierna cruzada se... de pronto ella, al mirarse en el espejo se dio cuenta y apresuradamente bajó el vestido sobre sus rodillas, cerrándose el escote.  
"Notice that while I talked, the prostitute's dressing gown had fallen open over her breasts, while over her crossed leg it... suddenly she, on catching sight of herself in the mirror, realized it and hurriedly pulled the dress down over her knees, closing up the neckline."
> «Fíjese que»: «Fíjese que» = «fíjese» (formal command of «fijarse», 'to notice') + «que» = 'notice that, mind you, you see'. It's a common verbal nudge that draws the listener's attention to what follows.
Ese gesto me hizo una impresión extraña... ella me miraba sin decir palabra... vaya a saber lo qué pensaba... de pronto la regenta golpeó con el nudillo de los dedos en la puerta, ella miró en esa dirección con afligimiento, luego su carita se volvió hacia mí... me miró un momento... se levantó... tomó los cinco pesos y forcejeando los entró en mi bolsillo al tiempo que decía: «No vengas más porque si no te hago echar por el portero».  
"That gesture made a strange impression on me... she watched me without saying a word... who knows what she was thinking... suddenly the madam knocked with her knuckles on the door, she looked in that direction with distress, then her little face turned toward me... she looked at me a moment... she stood up... took the five pesos and, struggling, pushed them into my pocket while she said: 'Don't come back, because if you do I'll have the doorman throw you out.'"
> «vaya a saber»: «vaya a saber» (also «vaya uno a saber») = 'who knows, goodness knows'. «vaya a saber lo que pensaba» = 'who knows what she was thinking'. The «vaya» is a frozen subjunctive used as an idiom.

Estábamos de pie... yo ya iba a salir por la otra puerta, y de pronto, con la mirada fija en la mía, sentí que sus brazos se anudaban en mi cuello... me miró todavía a los ojos y me besó en la boca... ¡qué le diré yo a usted de ese beso!... pasó su mano por mi frente y cuando ya estaba en el umbral, me dijo: «Adiós, hombre noble».  
"We were standing... I was already about to leave by the other door, and suddenly, her gaze fixed on mine, I felt her arms knot around my neck... she looked me still in the eyes and kissed me on the mouth... what shall I tell you about that kiss!... she ran her hand across my forehead and, when I was already at the threshold, she said to me: 'Goodbye, noble man.'"
> Future for wonder/exclamation: «¿qué le diré yo de ese beso?» uses the future «diré» not as a real future but as a rhetorical exclamation — 'what can I possibly tell you about that kiss!'. Spanish often turns the future tense into a flourish of doubt or amazement.

–¿Y usted no volvió más?  
"And you never went back?"

–No, pero tengo la esperanza de que algún día nos encontraremos... vaya a saber en dónde, pero ella, Lucién, no se olvidará nunca de mí.  
"No, but I hold the hope that one day we'll meet again... who knows where, but she, Lucién, will never forget me."
> Hope + future indicative: «tener la esperanza de que» is followed here by the future indicative «nos encontraremos» ('we will meet'), because Erdosain frames it as a firm expectation rather than a doubt. With a verb of doubt the same clause would turn subjunctive.
Pasarán los tiempos, rodará por los prostíbulos más miserables... se volverá monstruosa... pero yo siempre estaré en ella como me había propuesto, como el recuerdo más precioso de su vida.  
"The years will pass, she'll drift through the most wretched brothels... she'll turn monstrous... but I will always be in her, as I had set out to be, as the most precious memory of her life."
> «volverse» — to turn/become: «volverse» + adjective expresses an involuntary change of state: «se volverá monstruosa» = 'she will turn monstrous'. Unlike «hacerse» (a gradual, willed becoming), «volverse» marks a change that befalls one.

Batía la lluvia en los cristales de la puerta y en los mosaicos del patio.  
The rain beat against the panes of the door and on the tiles of the courtyard.
Erdosain chupaba lentamente su mate.  
Erdosain sipped his mate slowly.

Hipólita se levantó, fue hasta los cristales y miró un instante el patio negro.  
Hipólita stood up, went to the windowpanes, and looked a moment at the black courtyard.
Luego volvióse y dijo:  
Then she turned around and said:
> «volverse» — to turn around: «volvióse» = «se volvió» ('she turned around'), with the pronoun attached in literary style. Here «volverse» means physically to turn the body around — distinct from its other sense, 'to become'.

–¿Sabe que usted es un hombre extraño?  
"Do you know that you're a strange man?"

Erdosain caviló un instante.  
Erdosain brooded for a moment.

–Le soy sincero... yo no sé qué va a ser de mi vida... pero, créame, no estuvo en mis manos el ser un hombre bueno.  
"I'm being sincere with you... I don't know what will become of my life... but, believe me, it wasn't in my hands to be a good man."
> «¿qué va a ser de...?»: «¿qué va a ser de...?» = 'what will become of...?'. «qué va a ser de mi vida» = 'what will become of my life'. The idiom asks after someone's or something's fate.
Otras fuerzas oscuras me torcieron... me tiraron abajo.  
"Other dark forces twisted me... dragged me down."

–¿Y ahora?  
"And now?"

–Ahora voy a hacer un experimento.  
"Now I'm going to carry out an experiment."
Encontré a un hombre admirable que está firmemente convencido de que la mentira es la base de la felicidad humana y me he decidido a secundarlo en todo.  
"I've met an admirable man who is firmly convinced that the lie is the foundation of human happiness, and I have decided to back him up in everything."
> «secundar»: «secundar» = to back up, support, second (someone's plans or actions). «me he decidido a secundarlo en todo» = 'I've decided to back him up in everything'. The 'admirable man' is the Astrólogo, the conspiracy's prophet.

–¿Y lo hace feliz eso a usted?  
"And does that make you happy?"

–No... hace tiempo que he sentido que ya nunca más seré dichoso.  
"No... for some time I've felt that I'll never be happy again."
> «dichoso» / «dicha»: «dicha» is happiness, good fortune, bliss; «dichoso» = happy, fortunate, blessed — a more elevated word than «feliz». «nunca más seré dichoso» = 'I'll never again be happy/blessed'.

–¿Pero cree en el amor?  
"But do you believe in love?"

–¡Para qué hablar de eso! –mas de pronto vislumbró cuál era el motivo de todas las incoherencias que estaba diciendo hacía unos minutos, y dijo–: ¿Qué es lo que pensaría usted de mí si mañana... me refiero a cualquier día... si cualquier día supiera que yo había asesinado a un hombre?  
"What's the use of talking about that!" — but suddenly he glimpsed what the reason was for all the incoherent things he had been saying these last few minutes, and he said — "What would you think of me if tomorrow... I mean any day... if any day you found out that I had murdered a man?"
> Conditional + imperfect subjunctive: The hinge of the whole chapter: «¿qué pensaría usted... si... supiera...?» = 'what would you think... if you found out...?'. Conditional «pensaría» in the result, imperfect subjunctive «supiera» (from «saber») in the «si»-clause — the classic unreal hypothesis.

Hipólita, que se había sentado, levantó lentamente la cabeza y dejándola apoyada en el respaldar del sofá, miró largamente el techo.  
Hipólita, who had sat down, slowly raised her head and, letting it rest against the back of the sofa, looked a long while at the ceiling.
Luego, entornando los párpados, dijo filtrando una mirada fría entre sus pestañas rojas:  
Then, half-closing her eyelids, she said, filtering a cold gaze through her red lashes:
> «entornar»: «entornar» = to half-close, leave ajar (eyes, a door). «entornando los párpados» = 'half-closing her eyelids'. The verb captures the precise, half-shut, appraising look Arlt gives Hipólita.

–Pensaría que usted era inmensamente desdichado.  
"I would think that you were immensely wretched."
> «desdichado»: «desdichado» = wretched, miserable, luckless — the opposite of «dichoso» (the same «dicha», happiness, with the negative «des-»). Her verdict on a confessed murderer is not horror but pity: he would be 'immensely wretched'.

Erdosain dejó su sillón, guardó el calentador, la yerba y el mate en el cajón del ropero, y entonces Hipólita le dijo:  
Erdosain left his armchair, put the burner, the yerba, and the mate away in the wardrobe drawer, and then Hipólita said to him:

–Venga aquí... a mis pies.  
"Come here... to my feet."
> «Venga» — formal command: «Venga» is the «usted» command of «venir» ('to come') — irregular, built on the «veng-» stem. She still keeps the formal «usted» even at this most intimate turn: «Venga aquí... a mis pies».

Una enorme dulzura estaba en él.  
An enormous sweetness was inside him.

Sentóse en la alfombra de forma que su costado se apoyaba en las piernas de ella, abandonó la cabeza en sus rodillas, e Hipólita cerró los ojos.  
He sat down on the rug so that his side rested against her legs, let his head fall onto her knees, and Hipólita closed her eyes.
> «de (tal) forma que»: «de forma que» = 'so that, in such a way that' — it introduces a result. «de forma que su costado se apoyaba...» = 'so that his side rested...'. With a real, achieved result it takes the indicative («se apoyaba»).

Estaba bien así.  
He was content like this.
Reposaba en el regazo de la mujer, y el calor de sus miembros traspasaba la tela, entibiándole la mejilla.  
He rested in the woman's lap, and the warmth of her limbs passed through the cloth, warming his cheek.
> «entibiar»: «entibiar» = to make lukewarm, to warm gently (from «tibio», 'lukewarm'). «entibiándole la mejilla» = 'warming his cheek'. The «le» marks whose cheek — a body part 'belonging' to the indirect object.
Aquella situación además le parecía muy natural; la vida adquiría ese aspecto cinematográfico que siempre había perseguido, y no se le ocurrió pensar en Hipólita, tiesa en el sofá, pensaba en él, era un débil y un sentimental.  
That situation, moreover, seemed to him quite natural; life took on that cinematic quality he had always pursued, and it did not occur to him that Hipólita, stiff on the sofa, was thinking about him — that he was a weak man and a sentimental one.
El tic tac del reloj espaciaba en el intervalo de su engranaje una gota de sonido que caía sucesivamente como una lenteja de agua en el cúbico silencio de la habitación.  
The tick-tock of the clock spaced out, in the interval of its gears, a drop of sound that fell one after another like a lentil of water into the cubic silence of the room.
E Hipólita se dijo:  
And Hipólita said to herself:

–Toda la vida no hará nada más que quejarse y sufrir.  
"All his life he'll do nothing but complain and suffer."
> «no... nada más que»: «no hacer nada más que + infinitive» = 'to do nothing but': «no hará nada más que quejarse y sufrir» = 'he'll do nothing but complain and suffer'. «quejarse» is pronominal — 'to complain'.
¿Para qué me sirve un muchacho así?  
"What use is a boy like this to me?"
Tendría que mantenerlo.  
"I'd have to support him."
> «tener que» in the conditional: «tener que + infinitive» = 'to have to'. In the conditional, «tendría que mantenerlo» = 'I would have to support him' — obligation under a hypothesis she is weighing and rejecting.
Y la rosa de cobre debe ser una pavada.  
"And the copper rose must be some foolishness."
> «pavada» (lunfardo flavor): «pavada» is River Plate slang for a silly thing, a triviality, nonsense — 'baloney'. «debe ser una pavada» = 'it must be some nonsense'. Hipólita's blunt verdict deflates Erdosain's invention.
¿Qué mujer va a llevar en el sombrero adornos de metal, pesados, y que se ennegrecen?  
"What woman is going to wear on her hat metal ornaments, heavy ones, that turn black?"
Todos son así, sin embargo.  
"They're all like that, though."
Los débiles, inteligentes e inútiles; los otros, brutos y aburridos.  
"The weak ones, intelligent and useless; the others, brutish and dull."
Todavía no he encontrado entre ellos uno digno de cortarle el pescuezo a los otros, o de ser un tirano.  
"Among them I have still not found one worthy of cutting the others' throats, or of being a tyrant."
> «cortar el pescuezo»: «pescuezo» is the neck (of an animal, or coarsely of a person); «cortarle el pescuezo a alguien» = 'to slit someone's throat'. The brutal idiom reveals what Hipólita craves in a man — not love, but a dominating force.
Dan lástima.  
"They're pitiful."

Pensaba así frecuentemente, a media que la realidad deslucía los fantoches que su imaginación teñía de vivos arrogantes un momento.  
She thought this way frequently, as reality tarnished the puppets that her imagination had tinted, for a moment, with arrogant life.
> «fantoche»: «fantoche» = a puppet, a marionette, hence a ridiculous or hollow figure of a man. Hipólita sees the men around her as «fantoches» — puppets her imagination briefly animates, then reality exposes as empty.
Podía señalarlos con el dedo.  
She could point them out with her finger.
Este pelele erguido, perfumado y severo que los días hábiles hacia reputación de su empaque y silencio, era un infeliz lascivo, aquel otro pequeño y modosito, siempre gentil, discreto y sensato, era víctima de vicios atroces, aquel brutal como un carretero y fuerte como un toro, más inexperto que un escolar, y así todos pasaban ante sus ojos anudados por el deseo semejante e inextinguible, todos habían abandonado un instante las cabezas en sus rodillas desnudas, mientras que ella, ajena a las manos torpes y a los transitorios frenesíes que envaraban los fantoches tristes pensaba, áspera, la sensación de vivir como una sed en el desierto.  
This stiff dummy, perfumed and severe, who on working days built a reputation out of his solemnity and silence, was a lecherous wretch; that other small, prim one, always gentle, discreet, and sensible, was the victim of atrocious vices; that one brutal as a carter and strong as a bull, more inexperienced than a schoolboy — and so they all passed before her eyes, bound together by the same inextinguishable desire, all of them had laid their heads for an instant on her bare knees, while she, indifferent to the clumsy hands and the passing frenzies that stiffened the sad puppets, brooded, harsh, on the sensation of living like a thirst in the desert.
> «pelele»: A «pelele» is a straw-stuffed rag doll, a dummy — figuratively a spineless, easily-led man. Like «fantoche» and «fantoches tristes», it strips the men of dignity in Hipólita's contemptuous gaze.

–Así era.  
"That's how it was."
A los hombres sólo los movía el hambre, la lujuria y el dinero.  
Men were moved only by hunger, by lust, and by money.
> Fronted object + redundant pronoun: The object «a los hombres» is placed first for emphasis and then echoed by the pronoun «los»: «a los hombres... los movía» = 'men were moved...'. Spanish freely fronts the object this way, repeating it as a clitic pronoun.
Así era.  
That's how it was.
Angustiada, decíase que el único que la había interesado era el farmacéutico, capaz de levantarse por unos instantes por encima de su carnadura vehemente, pero el terrible juego había desvanecido su mecanismo, y ahora yacía más roto que los otros muñecos.  
Anguished, she told herself that the only one who had interested her was the pharmacist, able for a few instants to rise above his vehement flesh, but the terrible game had wrecked his mechanism, and now he lay more broken than the other dolls.

¡Qué vida la suya!  
What a life hers had been!
> «¡Qué + noun + el suyo!»: An exclamatory pattern: «¡Qué vida la suya!» = 'What a life hers (was)!'. The possessive «la suya» ('hers') stands alone after the noun for emphasis, with the verb left implied.
En otros tiempos, cuando era mocita desvalida, pensaba que nunca tendría dinero ni una casa alhajada con hermosos muebles, ni vajilla reluciente, y esa imposibilidad de riqueza la entristecía tanto como hoy saber que ningún hombre de los que podían encamarse con ella tenía empuje para convertirse en un tirano o conquistador de tierras nuevas.  
In other times, when she was a helpless young girl, she thought she would never have money nor a house furnished with beautiful furniture, nor gleaming tableware, and that impossibility of wealth saddened her as much as it saddens her today to know that none of the men who could go to bed with her had the drive to become a tyrant or a conqueror of new lands.
> Conditional as future-in-the-past: «tendría» (conditional of «tener») here is the 'future seen from the past': «pensaba que nunca tendría dinero» = 'she thought she would never have money'. The conditional carries the future inside a past thought.
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Source text: public domain (Roberto Arlt, d. 1942). English translation: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC — original draft, pending editorial review. NOTE: this is a minimal seed excerpt to make the app target runnable; full verified content is authored through the content pipeline.