Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/333

. It is not easy to resign oneself, to learn to wait.

. Come, María Antonia. Come, both my children… Embrace your father. You will forgive your husband, too, some day.

. No, all is over between us. I shall never forgive him.

. Oh, yes, you will! And you will be as happy as I am.

. As you are? Are you happy?

. Very. Light and thoughtless love, which breathes only illusion and desire, sheds all its flowers in one brief burst of spring; but the love of a wife, love which is holy and true, love which has learned to wait, has other, later flowers, Autumnal Roses, which are ours. They are not the flowers of love, they are flowers of duty, watered patiently by tears of resignation, and fragrant of the soul, with the touch of eternity, my husband.

. My wife and saint! On my knees I adore you.

. I am very happy. These are my Autumnal Roses.

Curtain