Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/183

 to anything. If he goes into office on horseback like Don Quixote, he will come out of it on an ass like Sancho Panza." And your uncle was a prophet. He knew what he was talking about.

. My dear wife, Josefina, let us not disturb the peace of our home, even though it be a governor's house—temporarily—by questions of politics. They ought never to cloud the brow of a creature so fair as yourself—you, for whom I have toiled, although I never was ambitious, for whom I would strive, yes, and fight with all my might, not only in a governorship of the second class, but, upon a throne, if I had one, to seat you beside me in ermine.

. Upon a throne? How long do you suppose you would stay there?

. You are lovely, you are beautiful; do not forget that, my dear. Don't you think that with such a wife a governor might be pardoned something, even if his ideas are a little advanced?

. Don't advance, Santiago! For heaven's sake, don't advance! And stop talking nonsense. This is a serious matter.

. That is precisely the reason I don't intend to have you meddle in it.

. So? That is what I am to you, is it? In the serious affairs of life, I am a meddler? I have no voice? I am not your wife, your equal; I am a butterfly, a toy who cares for nothing but frivolity? This is the consideration I receive after so many years of sacrifice, after all the privations I have endured for you!

. Josefina! My dear!

. At least you cannot say that my eyes were not open when I married you. I had no illusions about your future. When I first met you, you were the last person in