259 complete lack of success. Partly as a distraction through work and partly in order to recover his diminished fortunes, José María enters the stock market and the world of financial speculation in which he enjoys some success. He also develops a relationship with his moralizing oldest cousin, María Juana, who ostensibly tries to cure him of his adulterous vice but allows herself to become prey to it herself when José María avenges himself upon her husband, who he dislikes.
José Marìa‘s continuing obsession with Camila becomes so all-encompassing that he is driven to extremes of malice in which he finds himself trying to drown Constantino. Never physically robust, he ages prematurely in the course of the following four years to the extent of finding consolation in the company of sick, old relatives. As a result of this distraction, he fails to pay adequate attention to his financial transactions and incurs debilitating losses on the stock market. At the same time, his increasingly desperate and violent attempts to seduce Camila continue to be repulsed. After a scene of violent frustration outside Camila‘s door, he suffers a stroke that leaves him hemiplegic and unable to speak. During the course of a partial recovery, he is nursed by Camila and Constantino, who have forgiven him, and receives help in settling his almost overwhelming debts from his cousins and from Severiano, the one true friend among his trading partners. Having written two installments of his autobiography, he receives help from the abruptly-appearing folletinista, pulp-fiction writer, Ido de Sagrario, in order to bring his story up to date and gives his amanuensis strict instructions that it be a true and unembellished record. After he bequeaths his remaining assets to Camila and Constantino, the novel ends and we are left to assume that he has died, since he has directed that his