And that is how, after so much struggle, we finally approached the safe haven where we should have sheltered from the first. Don’t be too critical, if you think you could have been a better pilot; hearts cannot be navigated as easily as the oceans of this world. We were happy, and began to talk of the future. I promised my future wife a quiet, delightful life, in the country or just outside the city. We would come here once a year. If it was in the suburbs, it would be far off, where no one would come to disturb us. In my opinion, the house should be neither large nor small, but in between; I planted flowers, chose furniture, a chaise, and an oratory. Yes, we would have a beautiful oratory, tall, in jacaranda wood, with an image of Our Lady of the Conception. I lingered over this longer than over the rest, partly because we were religious, and partly to make up for the cassock that I was going to throw by the wayside; but there was still something there that I attribute to the unconscious secret desire to ensure the protection of heaven. We would light a candle on Saturdays …