Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/67

. You are the Blue Prince?—the son of my best friend? Ah, you don't know how glad I am to see you, and how fond I am of your dear father! We have been united in the bonds of friendship for twenty-five years, and in all that time we have engaged in only three wars, all of which have been lost by me, so you can readily imagine what interest I have in avoiding a fourth. What do you think of my three daughters?

. Nothing could be more beautiful.

. Oh, beauty is the least part of it!—education, my son, it is education. They are very handy about the palace. They cook, they sew. They would make any man happy; that is to say, rather, they would make any three men happy, as the laws of our country do not permit that one man should marry all three, although, believe me, I should be delighted if the law could be altered upon your account.

. [Aside] You are talking stupid nonsense, father.

. [Aside] Be quiet, snip! You will frighten him off. Leave this matter to me. Unfortunately, you have no mother, and I am obliged to attend to these details myself.

. I know that I may choose only one, and it will be she whom I have always loved, without knowing her. For I have learned by my books that among the daughters of a king, it is always the youngest who is the most beautiful and the most virtuous.

. Did you ever hear of such a fool?

. What a nincompoop!

. [Aside] Control yourselves. [Aloud] Yes, so the books and the stories say. And so no doubt… [Aside] I'd better indorse her to him; she will be the hardest to get rid of; she has the worst temper… [Aloud] And so