Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/264

. I am not narrow-minded like

. Like us, you were going to say?

. No, like most women. From the woman's point of view, home and family are of first importance, as is proper; on the other hand, it is not well to be excessively domestic. If I had married, I should have urged my husband on to glorious exploits, instead of intimidating and holding him back, as do most women, including yourselves.

. Including us?

. Yes, including you. A man of your father's ability and social position ought to amount to something; he should have had his fill by this time of being cabinet minister, or whatever it is that he would like most to be. Do you know what has always been lacking in your father's life? A woman.

. We had had a different idea.

. A woman who should be as unwomanly as possible. Exceptional men cannot be loved like ordinary men. Love watches beside genius as beside a sick bed, in silence and at a respectful distance, waiting until the patient calls, and is satisfied. To pester such a man with attentions or domestic trivialities is a crime, if you will pardon the suggestion. When I came in, I scented at once domestic discord in the air. You have both been crying.

. No, indeed—although memory brings tears to our eyes; we have no differences.

. You need not tell me. Was it serious? Has he had a letter? Or did your husband go out and neglect to tell you where he was going? Perhaps he stayed out too long. You have been quarrelling with your husband…

. In any event, my conscience will never reproach me with ruining a genius, however much I may quarrel with my husband.

. I was not thinking of your husband. Pepe is a