Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/47

. We do, do we? He is intolerable.

. He is a glutton; he eats with his fingers when the Countess is not looking.

. You dip your bread into the gravy.

. And you stuff pastries into your pockets.

. It's for Mogul.

. Silence!

. Highnesses, His Majesty grows impatient.

. Yes, you may retire.

. How shall I address you? Your Majesty, father—You have always been a father to me, since I never knew my own. As head of the family, his brother. Emperor, I have always loved and respected you.

. Always? Sit down. No, sit nearer. Although my decision not to see you was irrevocable, although I had determined that you should never enter the Palace again, nevertheless, as your complaints have become incessant and you have even had the bad taste to carry your diatribes to the radical press, thus lending aid and comfort to my enemies, and to those of the dynasty

. May I

. I have not finished. We shall never arrive at an understanding through correspondence or by means of emissaries, so I have preferred to arrange this interview, which will remain private, that is, unless you give it out to the papers yourself, intoxicated with your new rôle of journalist and your pose as Prince who is thoroughly up to date. It would make one of those typical interviews which are the pride and glory of the modern press. If the Empress were to learn of this, the shock would cost her an illness. Her health is already