Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/220

. I have had the pleasure of handing in my resignation.

. You?

. Happy man to be able to indulge—assuming, of course, that it was voluntary.

. Ah, who can say? I dropped in to bid you good-by.

. Good-by?

. Yes, I am leaving Madrid—I might say the world. I am getting married.

. Heaven!

. I understand the reason for your resignation. A rich wife, the match you have been looking for! You are not a man to miss anything.

. No, no… this time I appear not to have missed.

. Congratulations, man; tell us all about it. Our presents may not amount to much, but our congratulations will be sincere.

. You remember I was paying attention to the Somolinos?—those girls who attract so much attention.

. Yes, "Two Thousand for One" is what they call them—a tribute to the attractiveness of their father.

. Yes, he has the income. Well, I made love to them.

. The plural appeals to the imagination.

. I employ the plural, as a matter of fact, because one looked as good to me as the other.

. Presumably. In these cases, interest centres in the father.

. Meanwhile I waited, so as to allow the girls opportunity to make the choice.

. Coquette!

. And they did. One of them, I believe the eldest

. The eldest invariably develops most speed.