Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/206

 but myself, as if you were of no consequence at all! Oh, if I were only a man I would show you! You would see what stuff I had in me!

. I know already, Josefina. And if you only dared, if I could only count upon you

. What do you mean?

. I would accept the challenge and give them battle all along the line. Don Baldomero would soon learn what stuff I had in me. I would raise the downtrodden, I would summon the oppressed, I would stir up against him all those who hate, who despise him, and when he attempted to drive us out, the unanimous voice of the people would be on our side. Ah, if you would only believe in me! If you only had it in you to despise these rapscallions who loom so large in your eyes!

. What could I do?

. Attack them on their own ground. In the first place, tell Don Santiago to permit the performance of "Obscurantismo," tell him to go to it, be present yourself.

. I? What nonsense!

. Yes, it would seem like nonsense to your friends. Your friends! Were they your friends when you were struggling so hard in Madrid, when they had nothing to get out of you, and you had everything to get out of them?

. That is true…

. Then look at the other side. What a triumph with the people! If you had only seen the crowd at the boxoffice! What enthusiasm! What ecstasy! And how easy it would be to take advantage of it! But when the order arrives suspending the performance, and they see in it the influence of the reactionary element—don't deceive yourself, it will precipitate a crisis. It may even necessitate the dismissal of Don Santiago under the most unfavorable circum-