Narrated in the form of a dialogue, the character “Counselor” tells a friend about his platonic passion for Quintília, the most coveted single woman in the city of Rio de Janeiro, who suffered from a terrible aversion to marriage. The friendship between the couple, which arose after a bet between the Counselor and his work colleague João Nóbrega, fuels the protagonist's illusory hopes of declaring his love for the girl and, ultimately, marrying her. In this short story, Machado de Assis ironizes the institution of marriage, playing with the power of passion and desire.
