Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/297

. Yes, I wish we were all like her. But think what it has cost her to become what she is!

. Good night, Isabel.

. Adios, my dear. Forgive us for clouding the heaven of your dreams, but this has been a foggy day.

. What did María Antonia say? Did she tell you anything about me? How does she excuse her behavior?

. She had nothing to say; she has no particular excuse. She is uneasy, apprehensive of something which only you can explain. We have all noticed it; naturally, your wife was the first…

. You are wholly mistaken. There is absolutely not one word of truth in it.

. Nonsense, Pepe! Do not try to deceive me. It may mean much or little in your life, and doubtless you judge the importance which your wife and others should attach to it, by the light in which it appears to you; but do not pretend that it is nothing, that for some months your attitude has not changed completely. All men are bad actors. It is one of their best qualities. Your vanity plays havoc with your judgment and with your self-interest. The humblest woman in the world might fall in love with a king, and no one, as far as she was concerned, be the wiser; but woe betide the luckless queen who falls in love with an ordinary man! He would make it his business to proclaim it from the housetops, although life itself were forfeit in the process.

. If that is your opinion of men

. Seriously, Pepe, if love never sacrifices itself, how is it to be distinguished from indifference? A man has a thousand opportunities to engage in adventures without design upon his part, into which his heart does not enter at all; nevertheless, he is tormenting the woman who has con-