Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/58

. True, Your Majesty! True, and we know it. Poor dear!

. Baroness, I shall have a word with you later. It was a happy thought to attach you to the Princess Helena. You have been zealous in the cause of decorum.

. Your Majesty!

. I should have inquired into your past history more fully.

. Your Majesty! Your Highness! I protest; I cannot submit to this. I am insulted, outraged, yet I am unable to defend myself, because you are Emperor. Such an insinuation is unworthy of you. You insult the Baroness von Rosenberg!

. Not so loud.—Your Majesty is severe with the poor Baroness.

. The accusation is horrible—atrocious! Is this the reward of years of faithful service? I have sacrificed my life to Your Majesty. Her Highness is at liberty to repeat the advice which I have given her. No doubt Her Highness has made mistakes, she may have committed indiscretions even, which I regret, but you have no idea what she might have committed had I not been present to prevent her. She would have eloped two months before she did, if it had not been for me.

. Have we gained anything, in your judgment, by the delay?

. I appeal to Her Highness. Naturally, I sympathized with her desire for a divorce, but in her love-affair with Herr Rosmer I have been her most consistent, her most vigorous opponent.

. Probably that explains how it was that they met at your house.