Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/285

. Only it was not love. It was merely a great friendship.

. Are you whispering secrets?

. Why are you running away? What are they doing in the other room?

. Who cares? It does not interest me. Manuel, you forgot to finish that story; I found it extremely amusing.

. What story?

. Oh, an account of some pranks of Federico Reinosa's—eccentricities of an artist.

. Does he still visit your house frequently?

. No, he and Pepe had a falling out—some difference about art. They both became excited, and, needless to say, when Pepe becomes excited, he forgets himself completely.

. Was Pepe the only one who forgot himself?

. Federico is a perfect gentleman, who would be incapable of acting discourteously, as Manuel knows. [To ] Naturally, you have seen very little of him.

. Although I have heard him talked about a great deal.

. Is that so? By whom?

. By you. I have hinted it several times, but it has escaped your attention. It may not have escaped everybody's.

. It certainly has Pepe's. Pepe is an Othello when it is a question of one of his stage princesses, but when his wife is concerned, he is no better than any other husband. In his eyes I am so insignificant that he never bothers his head about me. If anybody were to tell him that