Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/274

. About me?

. Yes, I distrust your word. Have you urged Adolphe's appointment upon the directors, as you promised?

. We were discussing it now. You may consider it assured.

. Time will tell. I should be sorry to quarrel, but if you plan to take advantage of me…

. Ha, ha!

. Are you laughing? I warn you: you will be obliged to win your spurs in advance…

. I was laughing at the turn of your speech.

. Was it improper?

. It was inviting.

. But it is not safe to laugh at me. I find you are a deceiver who perverts the moral sense.

. Adorable! You are adorable! What more could be wished?

. Oh, how shamelessly brazen! She flirts with papa just as if this were a country which permitted divorce. And I must say her husband takes it calmly. Apparently he is explaining to Laura and Luisa the hang of a skirt… How revolting!

. Isabel, I wish you would speak to your husband. He insists upon appointing this boy to a position of grave responsibility. I suppose he told you that he was recommended by his father? His father knows well enough by this time that the boy is a fool. He married him in a hurry to this girl, whose family and antecedents will not bear inspection, and packed him off to Madrid to settle down, but not in a position of such importance. Use your influence with Gonzalo.

. I? Carmen knows me better. I should not dream of advising him, much less of opposing his wishes.