Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/103

 liberty to accept my insolvency in every sense of the word, my dear friend.

. Highness!…

. Is the concert over? Is the audience asleep, or is it still yawning in ecstasy?

. Your disappearance has occasioned most unfavorable comment.

. Wilf's music is depressing; it recalls so much. In leaving, I fancied that I was paying a sincere tribute to its value.

. The Comte was obliged to follow in your footsteps.

. Far from it. The Comte had already made good his retreat.

. The entire audience noticed your disappearance, as it were, in concert. You should have heard what they said!

. How foolish of them to say it before you! They might have known that you would have been sure to repeat it.

. Your Highness, they supposed I was asleep.

. Probably you were, and you dreamed it. Certainly the music was propitious.

. It is useless to argue. After this, silence is golden in my sight. No matter what I may hear, I shall remain silent—silent as the moral sense of Your Highness.

. Comte, the Baroness has promised us. Return to the concert and set these idle rumors at rest.

. Shall we return together? It is nearly over. We shall be in time for the applause.

. The coincidence would be too striking.