Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/85

. It is not business. Her Highness's name will be sufficient guarantee. You may say so on behalf of the . I await Her Highness's reply.

. What was your secret with the secretary?

. Most remarkable! I scarcely know what to say. Would you believe it? He asked me to offer you in the name of the Comte whatever you require, without any other guarantee than your reputation, which to him is sufficient.

. Not really? We are saved!

. Highness! I am amazed. Money offered in this spirit, by a person whom you have not even met

. By a person who knows perfectly well that sooner or later he will have to be repaid. He has sufficient sense and business acumen to realize that his apparent confidence and disinterestedness only place me still more deeply in his debt.

. Very possibly he has. One must be upon one's guard with these parvenus. How can we tell but that what he really wishes is to compromise your reputation, so as to capitalize it afterward in some discreditable enterprise?

. Quite unlikely. My personal influence is no longer of account, and I am scarcely in a position to betray political or financial secrets. I believe that the Comte is merely anxious to pay handsomely for the luxury of presenting another Highness in his house, at his entertainments, where the tone of society is somewhat mixed. My cousin is certainly not on friendly terms with the Comte for nothing. Prince Stephen's condition must be far worse than mine by this time. He is the person to advise us…

. The adventure is perilous. This Comte, this Comtesse, that secretary, these musicians, especially now