Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/322

 lives. Why did my boy Enrique give up María Antonia? Why was it?

. That is indeed a sore that is forgotten. Don't you know?

. Yes, I know what Enrique told me, what was said by our friends. Enrique had had relations with a poor girl, María Antonia was jealous and unwilling to forgive. She believed that the intimacy had not been broken off

. Then you know as much about it as we do.

. Only it never occurred to me till now that this explanation might not be the real one, that it was merely a pretext of Carmen's, of yours, of our friends, so as to avoid… I never dreamed until this moment—well, what I have just heard. I am not a man of great ability, my talents cannot have been of much assistance to Gonzalo, yet he has always kept me by him, in the positions of chief importance. Thanks to him, I enjoy a fortune, I am rich, I thought I was happy. But why? Why is it that I have all these things? My God, why is it?

. You have worked faithfully and hard, you are intelligent. This is unworthy of you. What are you thinking about? What have you heard? When you doubt, you not only doubt Gonzalo's friendship, you doubt

. I know it—and I cannot, no, I cannot. It would be too horrible. Tell me that I am wrong, that I have no right to think it, that if this thing could be, if it could have been

. Carmen would not be my most intimate friend. Is that what you mean? I could not have loved her as I do, as a sister. And you see it, you know it. Surely I would have suspected before you, if your suspicions had been justified. If they are true, I must have disguised my feelings out of policy, or under the threats of my husband. Policy and pretense have their limits. I am not a saint; the