Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/81

. In that contingency

. I have considered several alternatives, but Herr Rosmer disapproves of all of them. They are incorrect, he says—beneath the dignity of a princess.

. Undoubtedly, although the impropriety would be merely a matter of form. In the end the Emperor will be obliged to pay. Of that we may be certain.

. I hope so, to avoid an open scandal. The difficulty is that Albert is opposed to scandals. He believes that the Emperor will consent to my divorce, and then we shall be able to return to Suavia and live like princes.

. I doubt it. The Emperor will never consent that a princess of Imperial blood should suffer divorce.

. And he is perfectly right. All divorce is ridiculous. Besides, it destroys the only certainty which there is to marriage—the certainty that you will never be able to do it again. I no longer give divorce a second thought; it leads nowhere. Suppose I were to marry Herr Rosmer now after all this talk? It would be too much like the table of errata at the end of a book, when you have read the book. It corrects nothing and recalls everything.

. Do you see? That fellow again. Move on. He is capable

. Let us find out of what he is capable. Whatever it is, it will not shock me.

. Baroness von—von… Pardon if the title escapes my mind.

. Von Rosenberg.

. In my confusion, consequent upon my regrettable mistake, I neglected to offer my apologies as a gentleman, to beg pardon of the Baroness and of Her Highness