that you know. These are all friends, relatives… Very proper indeed! Oh, this is more interesting! Actresses!
Pepe. Possibly three or four.
Luisa. Ah, La Platanito! Everybody seems to be mad over that girl. I hear she is charming—and startling, too, when she sings.
Pepe. If singing without a voice and without knowing how may be said to be startling.
Luisa. Unless the rest of the apartment is much worse, I should not call it depraved.
Pepe. What did you expect? When a man lives alone, his friends imagine…
Luisa. Exactly—that he has company.
Pepe. But then what would be the use of living alone? I did not desert a loving family to be free; all I wanted was peace, to draw a quiet breath.
Luisa. I know; your aunts have a different idea.
Pepe. I am living by myself precisely because we have different ideas. Now I hope your curiosity has been satisfied. It is my turn, and I am dreadfully curious. What can I do for you? What do you want? How did you ever manage to slip out alone?
Luisa. Doña Rosalia took me to call on Mercedes Santonja, and she left me there. Mercedes was in the secret, so I ran away from her house, and took a cab—it is waiting around the corner now—and here we are.
Pepe. Delighted! Although… Is this something really serious?
Luisa. Serious? Very serious?
Pepe. Because if it isn't serious, then it is very foolish. Nothing could be more serious than foolishness in a woman.
Luisa. I am not sure whether it is foolish or serious, but at least the consequences cannot be serious, that is certain.
