Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/78

. Where else is there to go?

. We shall find some place which is more amusing, or more wicked—which is the same thing. I have always noticed that the places which everybody agrees are wicked, are by far the most amusing. That is the reason I am inclined to believe that hell, which certainly has the worst reputation, must be extremely funny.

. Your Highness! I am shocked beyond expression. You have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about, and you have not had for some time.

. Not since I made up my mind to say what I thought and do what I pleased. Is that what you wish to convey?

. Remember what happened to us this evening! A libertine has whispered phrases into my ear, which I had never expected to hear from a man. When he let go my hand, there was a hundred-franc note in it. And he had the impertinence to add: "Fix it up for me with your young friend… a few moments of her time." I thought I should expire on the spot.

. Delicious, was it not? If I had been in your place, I should have accepted the hundred francs and have staked them all on the next deal. I am sure that you would have continued in luck.

. Highness! Speech fails me. I shall die of mortification. The world is on tiptoe, waiting to see what you are going to do next. They observe us from Suavia; you may depend upon it, we are watched.

. For that reason I am unwilling to appear sad or weary for a single moment.

. But you are, I can see it, in spite of yourself. Nothing but a quiet conscience

. Why harp so much upon conscience?