Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/91

. He will be shocked, which is the best thing that he does. Let me know when my cousin arrives with the Comte.

. Oh, Albert! Where have you been? You have played and lost! Will you never learn that a man cannot be lucky at everything? Well, what are you going to do? Smile, or wait for your luck to change to look pleasant?

. I have not been playing to-night. I should never play, if I had my way, nor should we come to the Casino. We should not remain another day in this place.

. Yes, I know your love-idyl: our hearts and a cabin. Unhappy the woman who is lured into that dream! I still remember the week we spent in the country together, without seeing a soul, without another person to speak to, alone with our immense love. Who tired of it first?

. It irritated me to see how bored you were.

. And I suppose it bored me to see you having such a good time? What is the use of this pretense? We were both bored horribly. Love is a beautiful thing, no doubt it is the most beautiful thing in the world, but it is like the sun—beautiful because it shines on so much that is lovely and beautiful, which appears more fascinating in its light; the light itself is not beautiful. I hope and pray that our love may always be surrounded by all the lovely and beautiful things in the world.

. Yes, I seem to have noticed it. What you want is to be happy, eternally happy. Your idea of love is having nothing serious to think about.

. If I had thought seriously enough to satisfy your ideas, we should never have loved each other, nor should we be living together now. I adore happiness above everything else in the world; I have no intention of saddening my life by resignation, nor of renouncing your