Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/269

. My dear Laura, I am delighted… How are you, Carmen? And Luisita… Hello, Ramón. Anything new? Are we making progress?

. Excellent.

. I am angry with you, because you have proved yourself an ingrate.

. Ah, doubtless because I neglected to answer your last letter! You must not sell at the present figure under any circumstances. I should have placed myself at your disposition at once should you have done so.

. Remember, I have blind faith in you.

. I fear that you are unduly confiding; I am not infallible.

. I should gladly face ruin, following you.

. I should not feel any less guilty, even though you were following me.

. [Aside to ] Laura is mad over your father, but at least her attitude is perfectly open. How does Isabel tolerate it?

. Oh, she is harmless! It is a platonic attachment, upon the Exchange. Laura breathes fire and passion into such prosaic questions as: "How is the foreign loan?" "Was it strong at the close?" "Quote me prices on redemption bonds." Fancy Romeo and Juliet discussing quotations upon the Bourse at the window, instead of debating whether it is the lark or nightingale which sings!

. What difference does it make? It would be a love scene just the same. No words are too prosaic to express what love means.

. [To ] The young couple from Paris—on private view.