Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/162

. If you do give it, nobody will come to see you. Not even the official element.

. You cannot count upon the ladies, and without the ladies you cannot count upon the men. A theatre without women is like—what shall I say?—like a jail without birds.

. An excellent comparison.

. But the Governor cannot disobey the laws.

. It is not necessary to disobey the laws. All he need do is to enforce all of them. The theatre has no fire protection, the gallery is falling down…

. Ay! Don Paco! It's a death-trap!

. Who asked you to come here with this "Obscurantismo," anyway?

. Well, sir, all I have to say then is that this town must have changed a great deal. I played an engagement here during the revolution when we had the republic, and there were a great many liberals here in those days. I remember particularly one Baldomero Remolinos—he was called Baldomero after General Espartero.

. [Laughing] Will you listen to that?

. Ha! Ha!

. What is the matter?

. Nothing is the matter. Why, this Baldomero to-day is the greatest magnate in Moraleda—he is the grand seignior. He pays what taxes he likes, holds mortgages on one-half of the province, has notes on the other half, and he would go into an apoplexy if he should so much as hear the sound of the revolutionary hymn.

. The "Hymn of Riego"? Is it possible.?

. He must be the man they were telling us about. Is he the father of a very spoiled girl?

. Named Esperanza.