Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/215

 young man, and has made a fortune. He is expecting a reply. Until we hear

. Have you said anything to your mother?

. No. Naturally, I am anxious to delay that as long as possible.

. But Emilia? Is she willing? What does her mother say?

. Her mother is not pleased, as you may imagine. Since I suggested it, she has done all she could to influence Emilia against me. You ask about Emilia. How can I answer for her? She is a woman, and I myself, although I am a man, am not certain but that I will weaken when the time comes, and find that courage fails me to go through with it all.

. It is a serious, a perilous step. Going out into the world to make one's fortune smacks too much of adventure. People do it in novels.

. Unfortunately, the conditions which confront me are distressingly real. You read the papers. Thousands emigrate every day.

. Yes, but they belong to a different class. They are people who leave little behind, who have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

. Nothing to lose? If you and I and others in our position could lose what we have, we should be vastly better off.

. You don't convince me.

. It is true. When our position in life becomes untenable, there are two ways of improving it. One is to advance, which is preferable, and more agreeable of course, but more difficult as well. That is my ambition; I aspire to it, naturally. Yet, if it should not be possible, I shall content myself with the other, and descend in the social scale, which