Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/222

 respondence, this running to and fro, "Yes, the señorita will be out to-day." "No, to-day she cannot receive." "Today, perhaps, you might call"… well, the long and the short of it was, I found myself hand in glove with the maid.

. Stop! She is the one.

. What?

. You are going to marry the maid.

. Manolo, you guessed it. The maid!

. Man alive!

. My son!

. None other. And a maid! I told you I was romantic.

. Pepe! Pepe!

. Pepe!

. That is all there is to it. I was taken off my guard. The poor girl outdid herself to oblige me, and, to be perfectly fair, I was not in a position to offer tips. It was sympathy, something about me—well, it appealed to us both. I was always telling her nonsense, and she was pleased, naturally, so one day I invited her to go to Las Ventas to sample the rice. A man has to say something. Well, it began to look serious, it began to be serious. I am not a man to stand by and see a poor girl in tears when she has lost her position on my account, and finds herself without a position, as she does now.

. You may suppress the details.

. Well, facts are eloquent; well, I am going to marry her. I see no occasion, however, to laugh. I should not like my friends to think ill of my wife, and as we cannot possibly live here on my miserable pay, especially as I have an idea that we are headed for a large family

. Although you never can tell.

. Anyhow, I have resigned my position, and made