Ramalho Ortigão – författare

The Mystery of Sintra road begins when two friends are kidnapped by several masked men, who, to judge by their manners and their accent are men of the best society. One of the friends is a doctor, and the masked men say that they need him to assist a noblewoman, who is about to give birth. When they reach the house, they find no such noblewoman, only a dead man. E‡a de Queiroz wrote this spoof 'mystery' with his friend Ramalho OrtigÆo, publishing it in the form of a series of anonymous letters in the Dirio de Notcias in 1870.