Chapter 23 Chapter 3 Looking Back

The death of Judge Ribeiro was a fatal blow to Joam D'Acosta, who had been sure of his absolute reliance. Ribeiro had known Joam D'Acosta before becoming a judge in Manao, the prefect of the province, when the young clerk was being prosecuted for the diamond heist.Ribeiro was Villa Rica's lawyer at the time.He is responsible for defending defendants in criminal trials.He took the case very seriously, as if it were his own business.After studying the file and the details of the case, he was convinced (not only with professional confidence) that his defendant was wronged, that he had no part in the murder of the convoy soldiers and the diamond robbery, and that the trial went astray.All in all, Joam D'Acosta is innocent.

However, the opinion of lawyer Ribeiro, despite his brilliance and enthusiasm, was not shared by the jury.Who else could be the murderer?Who but Joam D'Acosta could reveal to the robbers the secret time of departure of the convoy?The staff accompanying the convoy had perished with most of the soldiers, and it was impossible to suspect him.Everything was biased toward identifying Joam D'Acosta as the sole real culprit. Ribeiro defended him with the utmost fervor!He threw his heart and soul into this matter! ...he couldn't save him.The jury's verdict affirmed all the questions.Joam D'Acosta was identified as the murderer, and the sentence was aggravated because of premeditation. He was not even given a commutation of his sentence, and was finally sentenced to death.

There is no hope for the accused.There is no possibility of any reduced sentence because this is a diamond heist.The criminal was finished... But, on the night before the execution, after the gallows had been erected, Joam D'Acosta managed to escape from the Prison of Villa Rica... The reader already knows the rest of the story. Twenty years later, lawyer Ribeiro was appointed judge in Manao.After the anonymous Iquitos manor owner learned of this personnel change, he saw a glimmer of hope that maybe the case could be reopened and it would be successful.He knew that the old lawyer's view of the case hadn't changed since becoming a judge.So he decided to put all his eggs in one basket in order to clear his grievances.If lawyer Ribeiro had not been named chief judge of Amazonas, he would have hesitated because he had found no new physical evidence to clear his grievances.Although he had endured a painful seclusion in Iquitos, perhaps he could turn to time to erase the terrible memories, but new opportunities demanded immediate action.

Because, long before Yaquita told him, he had discovered that Manoel was in love with his daughter.In his opinion, the young military doctor and Mina are a good match in every way.It was obvious that Manoel would propose sooner or later, and Joam wished to make preparations early. But at the thought that his daughter was going to marry under a false name, and that Manoel thought he had entered the Gallards' house, but in reality he had entered the D'Acosta's, the prison of a fugitive who was forever under threat of death. Home, all these thoughts were too much for him to bear.No, this wedding cannot be held like his wedding!no!Never!

The reader must remember that time.When the young clerk entered the Iquitos manor, he was already a partner of Magalaes. One day four years later, the old Portuguese was mortally wounded and carried back to the manor, only to live a few days. sky.Before he died, he was terrified at the thought that his daughter would be alone and helpless, and knowing that Joam and Yaquita loved each other, he wished for their wedding at once. At first, Joam refused.He offered to be Yaquita's protector and servant, but not her husband... But the dying Magalaes begged too hard to refuse.When Yaquita put his hand in Joam's, he did not withdraw his hand.

yes!This is serious business!yes!Joam D'Acosta could have told everything or fled forever from the house that had entertained him, the home that he had made prosperous!yes!Would rather tell everything than marry the benefactor's daughter with a false surname. But things are imminent, the old manor owner is in danger, and he stretches out his hand to the young couple! . . . Joam Dacosta was silent.The wedding was thus performed, and thereafter the young manor devoted his whole life to the happiness of the woman who became his wife. "One day I will tell her everything," thought Joam, "and Yaquita will forgive me! She never doubted me! Though I have to deceive her, I can no longer deceive an honest man , he is going to marry my daughter and become a member of my family! No! I would rather surrender myself than end this life!"

Doubtless there were many times when Joam wanted to tell his wife about the past!yes!Especially when she begged him to take her and her daughter to Brazil to visit the beautiful Amazon River, his words were on his lips!He knew Yaquita well enough to be sure that her affection for him would not diminish in the slightest! ... But, he really didn't have the courage! Considering that the happy family he had created might be ruined and never recovered, it is not difficult to understand his lack of courage. Such was his life all these years, such was the source of the little-known torments that tormented him again and again, and so he had lived, in short, while this man, who had always been upright, was obliged to go into hiding by an unjust sentence.

When he was convinced of Manoel's feelings for Mina, when he realized that the marriage must be completed within a year, he no longer hesitated, but immediately began to act. He wrote a letter to Judge Ribeiro, telling him that Joam Dacosta was still alive, the false name he used, the address of his family, and at the same time, he made it clear that he would return to his country and surrender. Turn himself in and ask for his case to be reopened, and the court may clear his innocence and uphold Villa Rica's unjust sentence. What waves did this letter stir in the heart of the righteous judge?It's easy to guess.The defendant no longer turned to a lawyer, but to the chief justice of the province.Joam D'Acosta trusted him so completely that he didn't even ask him to keep it a secret.

At first Judge Ribeiro was distraught by the letter, but immediately regained his composure and weighed carefully the duties his position required of him.It is his unshirkable responsibility to prosecute criminals, and now a criminal who voluntarily surrendered has come.He had indeed defended him, convinced that his sentence was unjust; he had been ecstatic when he heard that Joam had escaped, and would have even helped him escape if need be! ... But, what you used to do when you were a lawyer, can you still do it after you become a judge? "Of course!" thought the judge, "conscience orders me not to abandon this honest man! What he has done today proves his innocence again, and it is a moral proof, since he can give no other evidence, but Perhaps this is the most convincing! No! I cannot abandon him!"

From this day on, the judge began to correspond secretly with Joam D'Acosta.First, Judge Ribeiro exhorted his protege to proceed with caution lest something bad happen.He wanted to reopen the case, review the file, review the testimony.He had to know if something new had arisen in the serious diamond heist.Haven't any of the smugglers who attacked the convoy been arrested since that murder?Has no one confessed or alluded to something?Joam D'Acosta, as before, could only proclaim his innocence verbally!But this is not enough. Judge Ribeiro wants to find the real culprit from some factors in the case itself.

Joam D'Acosta must be careful.He promised to do it.After all the ordeal, it was a great relief to see his former lawyer, after becoming Chief Justice, still fully believe in his innocence.yes!Although Joam da Costa was condemned, he was a victim, a martyr, a man of integrity, and society should give him great compensation!The life of the owner of the Iquitos manor after his conviction, the current situation of his family, and his tireless and selfless work spirit for the happiness of his relatives deeply moved the judge, making him more convinced of Joam's innocence, and he vowed to do his best Come to vindicate the scapegoat for the Tijuca robbery. For half a year, the two have been communicating. At last one day, driven by the urgency of the situation, Joam D'Acosta wrote to Judge Ribeiro: "Two months later, I will come to you and obey the disposition of the chief judge of the province!" "Come on!" Ribeiro wrote back. The big raft was ready to go down the river.Joam D'Acosta, his wife, children, and servants set off on board.During the journey, to the surprise of his wife and children, he rarely disembarked.He locked himself in the room and kept writing, not to settle accounts, he didn't mention what he wrote, he just called it "My Life", these memoirs will help the retrial of the case. As a result of Torres' denunciation, he was arrested again, this arrest advancing his plans and perhaps destroying them, but eight days ago he had entrusted an Amazonian Indian with a letter to Ribe Judge Law, inform him of the date of arrival of the great raft. The letter was in the hands of the judge, who waited only for the arrival of Joam D'Acosta to resume the serious case, with the fullest hope of a good outcome. On the night before the raft arrived in Manao, Judge Ribeiro suffered a sudden stroke.An attempted extortion is denounced by Torres, who is angrily rejected by the noble Joam, and Joam da Costa is arrested in front of his family. Defended! yes!For Joam, this was indeed a fatal blow!But this is the end of the matter, and there is no way out.Joam D'Acosta bounced back from the unexpected blow.This involves not only his personal reputation, but also the reputation of the whole family.