Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/327

. Yes, leave us. I must consult with María Antonia. Find Gonzalo. Tell him whatever you see fit. I shall say nothing until I have talked with her—for I know that she will not deceive me.

. Is he in the study?

. Yes. [ hurries out] Follow him, Manuel. You know the truth—if what you have told me is the truth, and nothing else can be the truth.

. Whatever María Antonia tells you will be the truth.

. She will tell the truth to me.

. Yes, whatever you tell me will be the truth to me. Is Pepe jealous?

. You heard what he said.

. Does he…

. It is all as clear to him as day. He is returning me to you; now he is the one who is doing it, so that his honor shall not suffer. Nothing could be simpler. What a noble, sensitive thing this sense of honor is! Thanks to it I have accomplished in one hour what tears and complaints, yes, and a broken heart, could never do. I am home again to forget, to find release. He would never have let me come upon my own account, and you would not have received me—you would all have been against me. But now that it is no longer I, now that it is a question of his honor, nobody opposes it. I was a fool not to realize before how easy it would be to rid myself of him, and to regain my self-respect before my own conscience, to bring relief to my heart!

. Yes, talk, talk as you do now, and I will listen undisturbed, conscious that you have not failed. Grow indignant, burn with holy rage! Do not be cast down nor de-