Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/86

 that they are associated with Prince Stephen, and that means, of course, his wife… When all is said and done, the Court of Suavia will overlook your separation from your husband far more readily than it will condone the indecent marriage of Prince Stephen.

. That in itself is sufficient commentary upon the moral status of the Court of Suavia. We have arrived at an impasse at which we cannot afford to be particular. When one rises every day to see the sun shining upon an income which is adequate to one's needs and social position, it is all very well to be fastidious in the choice of one's friends, but morality is like army discipline: it is very different in peace from what it is in time of war. I am fighting now to make my own way in the world. I have only myself to rely upon, and I fight at a disadvantage. Ah! It is easy to rise, to force oneself up from the depths through sheer power of will, through one's unaided efforts, like this Comtesse of whom we have just heard from the secretary. She had no one but herself to consider, there was nothing to stop her. All she had to do was to say to herself, "I want this," and she had it. But to drop down from above, to hide oneself, to disappear, if such a thing were possible, so as to live a new life more personal, more one's own, that is difficult, because it is to the interest of all with whom we come in contact not to permit us to come down, since their social position is dependent upon ours, and they live by our lives, which for that reason were never ours, and it is to their interest to rise. However, you deceive yourself if you imagine that I shall allow myself to be restrained by any such ridiculous scruples.

. I do not imagine that they will interfere with you in the least. What a place this world would be if other people were to behave as you do! It would become an orgy