PQ 
 
 6601 
 
 L97 
 
 M2 
 1916 
 
 MALVALOCA 
 
 Serafin and Joaquin 
 
 r 
 
 Alvarez Quintero 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924005749415 
 
Malvaloca :a drama in three acts (sugges 
 
 3 1924 005 749 415 
 
MALVALOCA 
 
 VOLUME XIX 
 The Drama League Series of Plays 
 
VOLUMES IN 
 THE DRAMA LEAGUE SERIES OF PLAYS 
 
 I. — KiNDUNG By Charles Kenyan 
 
 n. — ^A Thousand Yeabb Ago By Percy MacKaye 
 
 m. — The Great Galeoto . . By JosS Echigaray 
 
 IV. — The Sxjnken Beli. . . By Gerhart Hauptmann 
 
 V. — ^Makt Goes First . By Henry Arthur Jones 
 
 VI. — ^Heb Husband's Wife . . By A. E. Thomas 
 
 Vn. — Change By J, 0. Francis 
 
 Vlll. — ^Mabta op the LowiiANDB . By Angel Guimerd 
 
 IX. — ^Patrie! By Victorien Sardou 
 
 X. — ^The Thief By Henry Bernstein 
 
 XI.— Mt Lady's Dress , . . By Edward Knoblauch 
 
 Xn.— The Trail op the Torch . By Paul Hervieu 
 
 Xni.— A Woman's Wat . . By Thompson Buchanan 
 
 XIV. — Hobson's Choice . . By Harold Brighcyuse 
 
 XV. — The Apostle , . By Paul Hyadnthe Loyson 
 
 XVI.— Youth By Max Halbe 
 
 XVn. — A False Saint . ... By Frangois de Curd 
 XVin.— The Mothers . ... By Georg Hirschfeld 
 XIX.— Malvaloca . . By S.and J. Alvarez Quintero 
 Other Volumes in Preparation 
 
SERAFIN AND JOAQUIN AI.VAREZ QUINTERO 
 
MALVALOCA 
 
 A Drama in Three Acts 
 
 (.Suggested by an Andahman Soiy) 
 
 BY 
 
 SERAFIN AND JOAQUIN ALVAREZ QUINTERO 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BT 
 
 JACOB S. FASSETT. Jb. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BT 
 
 JOHN GAERETT UNDERBILL 
 
 Gahden Citt New Yoke ^ 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 1916 
 
Copyright, 191S, by 
 
 Sebafin and Joaquin Alvabez Quintero 
 
 Copyright, 1916, by 
 
 Jacob S. Fassett, Jr. 
 
 In its present form this play is dedicated to the reading 
 public only, and no performances of it may be given, 
 except by special arrangement with the owner of the 
 acting rights, who may be addressed in care of the 
 Society of Spanish Authors, Room 62, 20 Nassau St., N. Y. 
 
 Section 28. — That any person who wilfully and for profit shall 
 infringe any copyright secured by this Act, or who shall know- 
 ingly and wilfully aid or abet such infringement, shall be 
 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof 
 shall be punished by imprisonment for not exceeding one year 
 or by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than 
 one thousand dollars, or both, in the discretion of the court. 
 
 Section 29. — That any person, who, with fraudulent intent, 
 shall insert or impress any notice of copyright required by this 
 Act, or words of the same purport, in or upon any uncopyrighted 
 article, or with fraudulent intent shall remove or alter the copy- 
 right notice upon any article duly copyrighted shall be guilty 
 of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than one 
 hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars. — Act of 
 March 4, 1909. 
 
To 
 MARCELINO MENENDEZ Y PELAYO 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero were born 
 in Utrera, a railway junction on the Seville-Cadiz 
 line, not far from the famous city of Jerez de la 
 Prontera. Serafin, the elder, was born in March, 
 1871, Joaquin in January two years later. While, 
 they were still very young, the family removed to 
 Seville, where their first farce, Esgrima y amor ("Love 
 and Fencing"), a trifle in one act, was performed when 
 Serafin was not yet seventeen years old. The suc- 
 cess of this ventiue was such that the brothers, hke 
 Murillo and Velazquez, went up to Madrid, where a 
 second farce was acted at the Teatro Espanol after 
 the usual heart-breaking experiences which were 
 destined in this case to terminate in failure. It was 
 not until 1898 that they achieved an assured position 
 through the reception accorded to La buena Sombra, 
 a sainete, or farce, with incidental music, and laid 
 thereby the foundations for the career of uninter- 
 rupted success which has won them a host of friends 
 [vii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 and world-wide reputation, together with the largest 
 rewards which are possible to the literary life in 
 Spain. 
 
 The Brothers Quintero are modernists by tempera- 
 ment and by artistic aflSliation. The interest of a 
 play, in their conception, does not lie in what is 
 about to happen, but in what is happening at the 
 moment, of which the future promise is but a phase. 
 Art cannot subsist upon mere illusion, it derives its 
 strength from observation, from its closeness to life. 
 It remained for the Quinteros to take an insignifi- 
 cant subject, present it simply through a succession 
 of commonplace events of which the protagonists 
 were neither persons of remarkable originality nor of 
 intellectual power, were torn by no heroic passions 
 nor involved in any enterprise at all spectacular, 
 abnormal, bizarre, or strange, and yet in so doing to 
 produce a series of plays of universal appeal, which 
 have continued to be in constant demand in theatres 
 of every class throughout the land. "Oiu: ideal," 
 they wrote, "is to make the spectators forget that 
 they are in the theatre during the performance of 
 our plays." 
 
 An ideal of this natm-e was not easy of realization. 
 At first the task seemed impossible. Las Flores, 
 I viii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 commonly considered their most notable piece of 
 work, was a failure when it was produced in 1901. 
 It was urged that it was not a play, or that if it was, 
 it was a bad one. It lacked action and intrigue — 
 as if, in the words of Jacinto Octavio Pic6n, a play 
 in which three girls are married ojBf could possibly 
 lack action or intrigue! "It is true that there is no 
 intrigue in the conventional sense, no bearing of false 
 witness, no disguises, no assumed names, no quid 
 pro quo, no adventures. There is nothing which 
 exaggerates nor falsifies the portrayal of life, nor 
 which imitates it in its more violent aspects, in the 
 abnormal or the exceptional. If the incidents which 
 occur in Las Flares and the manner of their taking 
 place are more than sufficient to justify us in char- 
 acterizing it as a beautiful comedy, in respect to form 
 its merits are even greater still. The conversations 
 are so natural, the charm and tenderness which are 
 always present are so appropriate to the persons by 
 whom they are expressed, the interruptions are so 
 spontaneous and so abundantly justified that there 
 are moments not only, but long stretches of time 
 when every suggestion of fiction or of the theatre 
 is banished from the mind, erased, obscured, over- 
 come by the sovereign splendor of truth, 
 [ix] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The bloom of Las Flores was, however, premature. 
 The public was not yet prepared to appreciate an 
 art that was so delicate. The theatre was in a state 
 of transition, uncertain of what was to come. Eche- 
 garay still wrote fitfully, while the leading figure, 
 Galdos, was ushering in the new era before a patroniz- 
 ing, incredulous pubHc, sustained in his endeavor 
 by the powerful aid of Maria Guerrero and Fernando 
 Diaz de Mendoza. The Generation of '98, that 
 restless body of young men which was in a few years 
 to revolutionize the literature of the country, apply- 
 ing a clearer and more relentless criticism to art than 
 was to be found elsewhere in Europe, had just begun 
 its work. Benavente, Ruben Dario, Azorin, An- 
 tonio and Manuel Machado, Juan Ram6n Jimenez, 
 Valle-Incldn, Martinez Sierra were still names of 
 the future. The Quinteros continued patiently to 
 develop their technique, but they produced no second 
 Las Flores. Their method became more precisely 
 adapted to the purposes in hand, their style an in- 
 strument of nicer and freer expression. El Patio, 
 Los Galeotes ("The Galeotes") La Dicha ajena ("The 
 Happiness of Others") and Las de Cain ("The 
 Daughters of Cain") represent earlier stages of the 
 evolution, although all were received with the accus- 
 [x] 
 
HSTTRODUCTION 
 
 tomed approbation of the public. With the pro- 
 duction of "Malvaloca" by the Guerrero-Mendoza 
 Company at the Princesa Theatre in 1912, the qual- 
 ity of their art appears clearly defined, while the style 
 has attained to mastery. "Malvaloca," although not 
 the least faultless of their plays, is among the most 
 successful and thoroughly typical. It was crowned 
 by the Spanish Academy. 
 
 The Quinteros are chroniclers of the life of Anda- 
 lusia. By preference they write in the Andalusian 
 dialect, a softened form of Spanish, bearing a rela- 
 tion to the Castilian analogous to that in which the 
 southern dialects of the United States stand to liter- 
 ary English, though vastly more corrupt. The inci- 
 dents with which they deal are real — the fruits of 
 experience patiently garnered, of a sympathetic ap- 
 preciation of the great human panorama as it is 
 imfolded before their eyes. The details are of un- 
 impeachable veracity. A century hence the his- 
 torian of manners will be able to reconstruct the 
 entire visible life of the Spain of to-day — ^at least 
 of Andalusia — from a reading of their pages. Here 
 is no striving for effect, no sense of strain nor of 
 effort; it is all palpably real. And yet the authors 
 are not realists. The incidents in themselves have 
 [xi] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 no interest, nor have they as facts any potency or 
 logic of their own. They never are studied. The ap- 
 pearance of reality only is of concern, the convey- 
 ing of the impression of things as they are, of life as 
 it is lived commonly hour by hour, bathed in sun- 
 shine, steeped in it, unthinkable without it, imtil the 
 atmosphere, the background, the story, and the 
 characters are fused into a picture whose truth we 
 recognize at once and should as soon think df ques- 
 tioning as the noon of a summer's day. 
 
 This world is one of vivid color set down in pages 
 which are shot through with light. It is a specific 
 for good nature, and good nature is the traditional 
 dower of Andalusia. Andalusia is all sunshine. 
 Like Becquer, the Quinteros are the poets of Seville — 
 Seville of the torero, the guitar and the castanet, of 
 bright burning daylight beating down upon the rows 
 of shining white houses, a blaze of heat over it all; 
 then in the evening the fragrance of orange blooms 
 arises from the gardens and the thrum of merriment 
 is heard in the streets through long and sleepless 
 nights. By an amiable fiction everybody is happy 
 in Seville. It is the city of sunshine and fiesta, of 
 alegria, set in its huerta of spring flowers, best em- 
 bodied perhaps in its annual feria at Easter, which 
 [xii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 focusses in the lodge of the Quinteros, who are its 
 favorite sons, in whose works it breathes incarnate, 
 the very image of the tourist's ideal. Professors of 
 happiness some one has called them. Their art is 
 the growth of a warm country where the conditions 
 of life are easy and men and women are easy-going 
 and complaisant so long as they are assured of a place 
 in the sun and the wherewithal which is necessary 
 to bare subsistence. 
 
 With the Quinteros color is not an accessory; it is 
 the spirit — ^the visible manifestation of an optimism 
 inborn and incorrigible, careless while the sun shines. 
 Life, as they see it, is a source of satisfaction. To 
 prolong it is a pleasiu"e and not a cause of pain. 
 Springs of happiness abound at which we may pause 
 to drink; the man who neglects to slake his thirst 
 has only himself to blame — ^he is abnormal or else he 
 is unwell. He cannot complain that the means of 
 gratifying his desires were not to be found. The 
 element of struggle is in consequence reduced to a 
 minimum. There are no problems. The comedies 
 are not comedies of ideas. The Quinteros propound 
 no queries, they offer no solutions. Such things 
 do not occur to their minds, or if they do, find no lodg- 
 ment there — ^they are the pettinesses, the weaknesses, 
 [xiii] 
 
I>fTRODUCTION 
 
 the anxieties of our daily routine, in which we sap 
 our strength or fret it away, while the great current 
 of life sweeps evenly along. Tragedy and pain have 
 no place in this philosophy. Even sorrow, when it 
 appears, seems something negative, remote, unreal, 
 a cloud which passes, a shadow which heightens the 
 effect of the sunshine. It is like jealousy in romance, 
 which only serves to make love sweeter. Gently 
 poetic, it adds a sense of depth, opens a vein of sen- 
 timent without which we should enjoy no relief, 
 humanizes the picture and sketches in the perspec- 
 tive with a haunting suggestion of the transitoriness 
 and insubstantiality of life. There is a touch of 
 Oriental fatalism in this attitude, if insouciance can 
 properly be called fatalism — a legacy, perhaps, from 
 the days of the Moors. The person is nothing, the 
 plot is nothing. It is but a succession of links in the 
 chain of existence, a thread which shimmers as it 
 runs in the sun, without any other meaning than that 
 of dmation, a mode of things as they pass, of no 
 importance and of no concern, as life, potent and in- 
 vigorate, sweeps on into the beyond. 
 
 The Quinteros received their tcaining and per- 
 fected their style in large measure in the theatres of 
 the g^nero chico, or lesser genre, in which perform- 
 [xiv] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ances of one-act plays and operettas, or zarzuelas, 
 are given before different audiences at popular 
 prices at various hours of the evening. The unity 
 of plot characteristic of the short play, commonly 
 the reproduction of popular customs or the exposi- 
 tion of a single theme, simplifies the problem to be 
 solved. It becomes possible to adjust the plot to 
 the subject matter without apparent weakness or 
 artificiality. Lope de Rueda had carried the paso 
 or brief sketch of this type to a point of satiric 
 perfection as early as the middle of the sixteenth 
 century. Even in the Spanish farce of the nine- 
 teenth, which was constructed after French models, 
 the element of character and the depiction of man- 
 ners played an important r6le, imparting a weight 
 and air of veracity to the proceedings which dis- 
 tinguished them from the prevailing shop product 
 of other cotmtries. These qualities were also at the 
 foundation of the world-wide reputation of Jose 
 Echegaray, reinforced in his case by a certain au- 
 thority and dignity proper to a mind accustomed to 
 the conduct of large affairs. In an age of artificiality 
 and generalization, there was in Spain always a 
 strong admixture of what is called there actuality 
 — ^the sense of being corporeally present at the very 
 [xv] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 moment, to which Spanish letters during the last 
 quarter of the nineteenth centiu-y owe much of their 
 distinction. 
 
 A style so subtle and so much a matter of deft 
 treatment of detail as the new manner, was of course 
 not possible in 1898, nor was it an attainment within 
 the reach of the very young. In the beginning the 
 Quinteros were no more than saineteros — farceurs in 
 the popular genre — in whom the gift of observation 
 and the color sense were exceptionally keen. They 
 constructed their sketches carefully in accordance 
 with orthodox standards. The plot still remained 
 a dominant factor, sufficient to sustain the interest 
 in itself, while color and incidents were skilfully 
 blended with it, as though endowed with independ- 
 ent existence. Many of the more attractive shorter 
 plays belong to the period of apprenticeship, when 
 the ambient was still novel yet had fully developed 
 its charm. Manana de sol ("A Morning of Sun- 
 shine"), a dialogue between an old lady and an old 
 gentleman seated upon a public bench in one of the 
 paseos of Madrid, has been translated into several 
 languages. The coincidence that the old people 
 turn out to have been lovers marks it as an early 
 example. The musical sainete entitled El Mai de 
 [xvi] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 amores is a work of haunting fascination. Com- 
 posed of the tritest elements in all that pertains to 
 plot, it is animated by the breath of summer wafted 
 across the Andalusian fields. A steady progress is 
 discernible through the bewildering sequence of these 
 plays until the incident and the atmosphere achieve 
 a language of their own to the subordination of all 
 other elements. Such delicate trifles as Hablando 
 se entiende la Gente ("By Their Words Ye Shall 
 Know Them") are perfect in their kind, faultless as 
 transcriptions of life. A gentle humor plays over 
 the scenes as though it were an emanation of the 
 sunny atmosphere. It is indulgent, sportive, but 
 not critical, at least in the active sense. It is too 
 urbane ever to hint at the possibihty of reform. The 
 occasion does not matter; it is only natural to smile. 
 And life is so beautiful ! It diverts the mind for the 
 moment and then lingers in the memory as an added 
 grace. 
 
 More than twenty of the comedies have been 
 translated into Italian, while several have been acted 
 in the Venetian dialect. The peculiar provincial 
 divisions of the ItaUan stage, with its insistence upon 
 local types, prepared the way for a favorable re- 
 ception, assuring the Quinteros a success second 
 [ xvii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 only to that enjoyed In their own country. They 
 are highly esteemed in Germany; translations of 
 individual plays have also been made into French, 
 Portuguese, and Dutch. The present volume is the 
 first to be placed before English readers. 
 
 The study of an art which is of such accurate de- 
 tail that it has passed without challenge in its own 
 country as a faithful picture of the national life, 
 cannot fail to be productive abroad of salutary re- 
 sults. The Spain of the foreigner does not exist. 
 Even the French, who might be presumed to know 
 better, see nothing when they look across the Pyre- 
 nees but fictions of the vintage of the opera Carmen. 
 "Whenever anything is written about Spain in 
 other European countries," says Francos Rodriguez, 
 "recourse is had at once to picturesque lying, to the 
 grievous impairment of our good name. Neither 
 actors nor authors seem to think intelligence is 
 required in order to convey an impression of Spanish 
 life. All that is needed is to transform the men into 
 bull-fighters and the women into flamencos, every 
 woman without exception carrying a knife in her 
 garter. But this is not Spain; the Spanish character 
 bears absolutely no resemblance to the grotesque 
 imaginings of these conscienceless artists who assume 
 [ xviii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 to depict a nation by a display of braided frogs and 
 castanets, of sugar-loaf hats and skirts which 
 scarcely reach below the knees. Yet these things 
 are universal whether in books or upon the stage. 
 
 "In the days when the elder Dumas roved over 
 the land, liberties were natural which now would 
 arouse laughter. Communication was difiBcult in 
 that age, and authors who had a weakness for betray- 
 ing truth were able to commit their infidelities with- 
 out fear that the deception would be detected in 
 short order. 
 
 "In these times, however, when Spain is taking an 
 active part in the commerce of the world and her life 
 may be studied freely in the thousand aspects of a 
 complex civilization, further to persist in the scur- 
 rilous practise of considering us a people who jangle 
 the tambourine, is a species of insult which it is in- 
 cumbent upon us to resent. . . . 
 
 "We need only turn the pages of Sardou's "Sor- 
 ceress" to learn the spirit in which this illustrious 
 author approached his task. He enumerates the 
 characters of the play and includes in the list one 
 Cardenos (a name that means nothing), an execu- 
 tioner called Torillo (the ioro, here come the bulls!), 
 a Rioubos, which is about as Spanish as if the sky 
 [xix] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 were to rain cabbages, a person known as Afrida, 
 whose status is no better, and a Dona Joana — 
 enough to rend the stoutest heart. 
 
 "A Moorish woman appears who is dubbed Fa- 
 toum(?). Turning to Joana in full sixteenth century 
 she exclaims: 'My dear, Sehorital' 'Senorital' — 
 as life-like, if you please, as any maid-servant of our 
 own day politely addressing her mistress. 
 
 "The character Rufina, who arrives at Toledo 
 direct from Aranjuez, belongs to the same epoch, 
 just as if that royal palace had been in existence at 
 the period in which the drama is laid. The fact is 
 that Aranjuez had a Spanish sound in Sardou's ear; 
 he laid hands on the name to give color to his play. 
 
 " Color, do we say .J* One of the master strokes of 
 The "Sorceress" occurs in a scene in the third act, 
 which is wonderful! Enrique solicits the love of 
 Zoraya, and when the couple are in transports, the 
 blows of a halberd are heard in the street. Whose 
 halberd? Some soldier's.? No, the night watch- 
 man's — the sereno's 1 Sardou hales our modest, 
 kindly sereno, the vigilant guardian of our modern 
 Spanish cities, back to the year 1507. . . . 
 
 "However, Sardou is by no means alone. As 
 great a poet as CatuUe Mend^s has taken refuge 
 [xx] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 in his imagination, interspersing his Vierge' d'AvUa 
 with grotesque details which give evidence of an 
 ignorance which is unbelievable. 
 
 "In the play in question, two noblemen of Avila 
 appear, by name Don Tomasso Farges and Don 
 Hemdndez Ervaim. One of the women is called 
 Ximeira and another female character 'Una Pe- 
 Ueja'. . . . 
 
 "By splendid anticipation a sale of reserved seats 
 for a bull-fight takes place in the reign of Philip II, 
 . . . Bull-fights in the reign of the builder of the 
 Escorial ! What an invitation to mirth ! 
 
 "If Spaniards would protest whenever possible 
 against actors and authors who indulge in this species 
 of falsehood, greater care would be exercised by 
 those who make a business of misrepresenting our 
 land as a place in which people wear hats with their 
 brims turned up and clack castanets. Persons who 
 have no other title to trade upon our good name 
 than a proclivity for picturesque lying, had better 
 write about their own coimtry and forge whatever 
 inventions their countrymen may find agreeable at 
 its expense, in which case the sphere of their activi- 
 ties will be restricted indeed." 
 
 John Gabbett Undebhill. 
 [xxi] 
 
Let this mountain maid 
 Be remade again. 
 Like the bells remade. 
 
 — POPUIAB SONQ 
 
First presented by the CompaRia Guerrero-Mendoza, at the 
 Teatro de la Princeaa, Madrid, on the sizth-of April, 1912. 
 
CAST OF CHARACTERS 
 
 Malvaloca 
 
 Jvanela 
 
 Mariquiia 
 
 Sister Piedad 
 
 Teresona 
 
 Alfonsa 
 
 Doha Enriqueta 
 
 Dionisia 
 
 Sister Consuelo 
 
 Sister Dolores 
 
 Sister Carmen 
 
 Leonardo 
 
 Salvador 
 
 Martin the Blindman 
 
 Barrabas 
 
 Tio Jeromo 
 
 Lobito 
 
 A Workman 
 
 Maria Guebrebo 
 
 CoNCHiTA Ruiz 
 
 JosBFiNA Blanco 
 
 Cabmen Jimenez 
 
 Maria Cancio 
 
 Maria VAiiENTiN 
 
 Elena Salvador 
 
 Aurora Le-Bret 
 
 LuisA Garcia 
 
 Consuelo Leon 
 
 Enriqueta Liquinano 
 
 Fernando Diaz de Mendoza 
 
 Emilio Thuillier 
 
 Emilio Mesejo 
 
 Felipe Cars! 
 
 Manuel Diaz 
 
 Fernando Montenegro 
 
 Salvador Covisa 
 
 [ xzvii ] 
 
MALVALOCA 
 mt J 
 
ACT I 
 
 In Las Canteras, an Andalusian village, there is a 
 convent of remote date, which is known by the 
 name of "The Convent of Carmen." When the 
 last of the nuns devoted to the Divine Love passed 
 to a better life {she was a very old woman), the 
 Sisters of Charity came to inhabit the ancient pre- 
 cincts. They are an order similar to that of the 
 Sisters of the Poor. 
 
 At the time when the action of this play begins, 
 there are in the convent, or home, six old people 
 for whom the Sisters care with extreme solicitude 
 and kindness. 
 
 The first act takes place in one of the corridors, or 
 galleries, of the cloister through whose tall arches 
 may be seen, upstage, the whole side of what was 
 once a garden, now almost entirely converted 
 into an orchard containing more trees than flower 
 beds. At the right of the actor, the corridor ends at 
 a wall in which there is a large door, called the 
 [3] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 "Gateway of the Cross," because above it, fastened to 
 the wall, there is a wooden cross. In the wall it' 
 self, as high as one can reach, and on a rough 
 pedestal, there is a small image of St. Anthony. 
 Before it there is an earthen jar full of chick peas. 
 One of the central arches affords an entrance into 
 the garden. In the corridor there are two or three 
 chairs and a bench. 
 
 It is.moming on a sunny day in April. 
 
 Enter Baeeabas, one of the old inmates. He is 
 rather small, ill-humored and fretful. He acts as 
 caretaker of the convent garden and orchard, and 
 fusses about in his own domains. Some distance 
 upstage, in the shade of a tree. Sister Carmen, 
 silent and preoccupied, sews tirelessly. From 
 time to time the scenes which take place about 
 her distract her from her work for an instant, 
 but she soon fixes her attention a^ain on what- 
 ever she is making. Sisters Dolores and 
 CoNsuELO enter the garden from the left. They 
 carry large purses for the purpose of collecting 
 alms. They enter the corridor through the middle 
 archway, and disappear through the " Gateway of 
 the Cross." Barrabas soliloquizes maliciously 
 as follows: 
 
 [4] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Babbabas. Here we go 
 Two in a row 
 Skulking in the shadows — 
 Sisters of Charity, you know. 
 He! he! My own verses! 
 
 Alms for the poor — 
 Pray give us more — 
 If it be silver, you add to our store. 
 Heigh! 
 
 [Enter from the Gateway of the Cross, Maktin, 
 the blindman. He carries a stick to assist 
 his progress. He is older and more broken 
 down than Barrabas. He walks quietly 
 the whole length of the corridor. Babbabas 
 sees him and stops him to talk wiih him.\ 
 Good morning! 
 
 Martin. Good morning! I didn't know you 
 were here, Seflor Barrabas. 
 
 Babbabas. You knew it perfectly well, Sefior 
 Martin. 
 Mabtin. Just as you say! 
 Babbabas. Because, although you can't see me, 
 you can smell. 
 
 Mabtin. Just as you say. Good morning. 
 Babbabas. Are you going to take a sun bath? 
 [5] 
 
Aa I MALVALOCA 
 
 Maetin. Yes, with Sister Piedad's permission. 
 
 Barbabas. There is nothing like dancing in 
 attendance to get favors; but that doesn't suit 
 me. 
 
 Martin. Nor me either. I won't argue with 
 you. And, mind, you have no right to criticise 
 things in this Home. You were taken in here out 
 of charity the same as I was. 
 
 Barrabas. There is a difference, my friend. I'm 
 not a useless ornament like you are. I work here 
 in the garden and the orchard. I earn the bread 
 I eat; yes, and what you eat, too! 
 
 Martin. I don't owe you anything. I work, 
 myself. 
 
 Barrabas. Perhaps you'll tell me what you do? 
 It's nearly two years since you have been up in 
 the bell tower. 
 
 Martin. I do what the Sisters tell me to do. 
 
 Barrabas. Since they never tell you to do any- 
 thing, you live like a priest. 
 
 Martin. I tell you I don't want to argue with 
 you. Good-bye. 
 
 Barrabas. What have you to say of the clatter 
 La Golondrina has been making lately? A fine bell 
 she is ! 
 
 [6] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad I 
 
 Maktin. Everything turns to poison in your 
 mind, Seflor Barrabas. 
 
 Bakhabas. That's why I like to get it out. 
 
 Maktin [starting toward him. With deep and 
 genuine feeling]. La Golondrina is a bell which 
 belongs to this sacred Home; at present she is 
 broken. She does not sound as she used to, because 
 God has willed it so. But when these hands used 
 to ring her. La Golondrina sang as no bell ever 
 sang since belfries have had crosses. You know that 
 as well as I do, only you want to hear me talk. 
 
 Babrabas. Didn't La Sonora of the Iglesia 
 Mayor have a better tone? 
 
 Martin. Now you're talking about La Sonora 
 again! Everybody seems to be crazy in this town. 
 To compare La Sonora with La Golondrina — ^why 
 you'd have to be deaf to do that! 
 
 Barrabas. Even nowadays, Senor Martin? 
 
 Martin. I'm not talking about nowadays. 
 How would you expect her to sound after having 
 been broken these three years? La Sonora's friends 
 ought to be happy; yes, sir, very happy. They've 
 lived for a long time oppressed by the weight of 
 La Golondrina! 
 
 Barrabas. I dare say the way it happened was 
 [7] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 this: One afternoon, as the Eternal Father was 
 
 walking along the clouds 
 
 Mabtin. Better not meddle in sacred things, Sefior. 
 Babbabas. He heard you ringing the bell: 
 Ding dong, ding dong! it sounded right in his ears, 
 you know, and he said: "Well, well, that bell sounds 
 too well to be in Las Canteras, which after all is 
 only a village." Then he told an angel who was 
 taking a trip through Andalusia, to break it with a 
 blow of a hammer. He! he! Wasn't that some- 
 thing like the way it happened? God in Heaven 
 was envious! 
 
 Mabtin. You're the one who is envious right 
 here on earth. Idiot, fool, heretic! I'm going to 
 ask the Mother Superior to forbid you to talk to 
 me, that's all. 
 
 [At this point Sisteb Piedad appears in the 
 doorway and cuts short the dispute. She is 
 young and pretty, humble and gentle. She 
 speaks quietly and open-heartedly. Her 
 accent is not Andahisian.] 
 Sister Piedad. Quarreling again? You axe 
 beginning the day early. 
 
 Mabtin. This fellow does nothing but pick me 
 to pieces. 
 
 [8] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Bakbabas. Me? I wouldn't do such dirty work! 
 
 Sister Piedad. But you, too, Martin; why 
 don't you go on about yoin- business? 
 
 Martin. Because he won't let me! 
 
 Sister Piedad. Why? Does he set a trap for 
 you as though you were a bird? 
 
 Martin. He says things to me which make it 
 impossible for me to let them go without answer- 
 ing. 
 
 Sister Piedad. To foolish words there is 
 always 
 
 Barrabas. Do you mean that my words are 
 foolish? 
 
 Sister Piedad, Precisely. 
 
 Barrabas. Well, the only thing I did to him 
 to-day was to wish him good morning. It's better 
 to be a favorite than to be polite! 
 
 Sister Piedad. No one has any claims for pref- 
 erence here, Barrabas. Nor do we try to cure wits. 
 The king no longer pays fools. I know your antics 
 by heart, and I also know what your dispute was 
 about. It's the same every day. 
 
 Martin. Every day. Sister Piedad! Please tell 
 the Mother Superior. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Well, who knows but that God 
 [9] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 will punish you, and make you very uncomfortable? 
 I mean you, Barrabas. The miracle which I am 
 
 hoping for is 
 
 Bakkabas. But there are no miracles nowadays! 
 SiSTEE PiEDAD. Hush, Barrabas! How do we 
 know? Go on with your work; and you, too, Martin. 
 Mabtin. God be with you. Sister. 
 
 [Barrabas goes into the garden at the right 
 without replying. Mabtin disappears dovm 
 the corridor. 
 Enter Leonardo from the left of the garden. 
 He is a man of ahovt thirty years, and of a 
 modest and simple appearance. His face 
 is somewhat sunburned. His glance is 
 penetrating and curious. He carries his 
 hat in his hand, showing a head well covered 
 with thick, abundant hair. His whole person 
 has an appearance of strong, manly energy 
 which makes him very likable. 
 Sister Piedad sees him coming, and awaits 
 him, smiling sweetly.] 
 Sister Piedad. Good morning, Senor. 
 Leonardo. Good morning. Sister. 
 Sister Piedad. You have come to see your 
 friend, have you not? 
 
 [10] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Leonakdo. To stay with him awhile. I have 
 nothing important to do down below in the town 
 for the moment. 
 
 Sister Piedad. He was here only half an hour 
 ago. He is probably inside talking with some of 
 the inmates. He has such a pleasant way with 
 them, and he loves to chat. 
 
 Leonardo. With them, and with everybody. 
 He has a word for every one he meets. He doesn't 
 know how to keep still. Really what he says is 
 fascinating and his words are like honey. He has 
 begim talking of you now, and of this place, most 
 interminably. 
 
 Sister Piedad [playfully]. Indeed? Well, I 
 warn you, we are very much interested in him. It 
 is just possible that we may ask him to show his 
 gratitude in some way. 
 
 Leonardo. If there is anything / can do. . . . 
 I don't know about Mm. 
 
 Sister Piedad. We three will talk it over to- 
 gether. I'm going in to look for him. Perhaps he 
 is with Don Jacinto. 
 
 Leonardo. The priest? 
 
 Sister Piedad. No, Senor; one of the Inmatesi 
 who is also called Don Jacinto. Haven't you no- 
 [11] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 ticed a very handsome, elderly gentleman, who is 
 almost always alone? 
 
 Lbonaedo. Oh, yes! Now I know whom you 
 mean. 
 
 Sister Piedad. He comes of an important famUy 
 in Seville, who have come here to die. None of us 
 can ever tell what our end will be. Of coiu-se 
 we care for them all with great love and kindness — 
 and we have to add courtesy in his case. Every- 
 thing humiliates and distresses him so. He has 
 foimd a great comrade in your friend. 
 
 Leonardo. What a sad story! Do these things 
 happen frequently? 
 
 Sister Piedad. Yes, Senor, in the larger Homes. 
 But we mostly have people from poor families. Now 
 and then we have an inmate who saves something 
 from whatever we give him to eat in order to give 
 it to his relatives when they come to visit him. 
 
 Leonardo. Very interesting. 
 
 Sister Piedad. I shall let your friend know that 
 you are here. 
 
 Leonardo. No; let me go. Sister. 
 
 Sister Piedad. No, indeed! Pray be seated. 
 He'll be with you in a moment. 
 
 [She goes out through the garden to the right. 
 [12] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad I 
 
 Leonardo walks about for a moment in 
 silence. Soon he notices the figure of St. 
 Anthony. Babbabas, who has again en- 
 tered, watches his chance to talk with the 
 newcomer.] 
 Leonaedo. What foolishness'. The Saint has 
 peas to-day. It was oil and vinegar yesterday. I 
 can't understand it. 
 
 Babbabas. Are you looking into San Antonio's 
 jar? 
 Leonardo. Eh? Oh, yes! 
 Babbabas. Don't you know what it is all about? 
 Leonardo. No. And ever since I came here, 
 I have been wondering about it, but I never felt 
 like asking anybody. 
 
 Babbabas. Well, then, I'll tell you what it is, 
 and you won't have to ask me. He! he! 
 Leonabdo. Good! 
 
 Babbabas. Well, since this Home lives by 
 charity, whenever the Sister who is in charge of 
 the supplies notices that they need anything, she 
 puts a little of whatever they need in San Antonio's 
 jar. Along comes some charitable person, takes a 
 peep at the Saint's jar, notices the peas, or what- 
 ever it happens to be, and knows right away what 
 [13] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 is needed. Then he or she orders a sack or a bottle. 
 Then the Sisters say that San Antonio gets it, 
 
 Leonardo. Ah! 
 
 Babbabas. And San Antonio has no more to 
 do with the peas, or the oil, than you or me! 
 
 Leonabdo. Of course not. 
 
 Babbabas. That's the way miracles happen 
 nowadays. I could tell you a lot more 
 
 Leonabdo. No, I don't wish to hear any more. 
 
 Babbabas. Why, in this Home 
 
 Leonardo. That will do — that will do, thank you. 
 
 Babbabas. I don't believe you 
 
 [Leonabdo sits down and begins to smoke. 
 Babbabas approaches him with a smile.] 
 Would you give me a cigarette, Senor? 
 
 Leonabdo [good-naturedly]. Yes . . . yes, 
 indeed. Take two of them if you wish. 
 
 Babbabas. I do wish, and thanks very much. 
 Tobacco is the only thing which recalls other days 
 to us here. And it is the only thing that San Antonio 
 never sends for! He's not much of a smoker. We 
 have to be satisfied with the thin cigarettes which 
 the Sisters provide for us! [Leonardo smiles.] 
 That's the first time I ever saw you smile in my life. 
 I don't suppose you have stomach trouble? 
 [14] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Leonardo. No. 
 
 Barrabas. You and Don Salvador are very 
 different. 
 
 Leonardo. That will do . . . that will do; 
 no more, thank you. 
 
 Barrabas. I don't beUeve you. [He turns to- 
 ward the garden re-rolling the cigarette which he is 
 about to smoke. Soon he exclaims as he glances to 
 the l^t^ Who is this httle dove coming? We don't 
 often see a sight like that in this place ! 
 
 [Malvaloca enters. She stops an instant 
 in the middle of the garden and looks about 
 her as if uncertain which way to go. Upon 
 catching sight of Leonardo in the corridor, 
 she goes toward him. 
 
 Malvaloca is pretty; her face is smiling 
 and communicative; her body active and 
 graceful. She is clearly of the proletariat. 
 Her black hair is short and curly. It seems 
 blown about by the breeze with every nervous 
 movement of her head, which is full of all 
 sorts of fanciful nonsense. These quick 
 movements of her head are birdlike. She 
 wears a smooth, plain-colored dress, a white 
 waist, black buckled shoes, and a small shawl 
 [15] 
 
Act T MALVALOCA 
 
 of black silk thrown across her shoulders. 
 Her eardrops, rings, and bracelets are very 
 costly, and in striking contrast vnth the 
 simplicity of her dress. 
 
 When Leonardo sees her coming, he gets 
 up, somewhat startled. Bakhabas draws 
 near Sister Carmen as though to comment 
 upon the visitor. A moment later he irwves 
 
 off.] 
 
 Malvaloca. Good morning. 
 
 Leonardo. Good morning. 
 
 Malvaloca. Is this the Home kept by the Sisters 
 of Charity? 
 
 Leonardo. It is. 
 
 Malvaloca. Thanks. I saw the gate open so 
 I walked in; but when I got into the garden I was 
 afraid I was in the wrong place. 
 
 Leonardo. Well, this is the Home. 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh, yes! I see a nun over there. 
 And — could you tell me ? 
 
 Leonardo. What? 
 
 Malvaloca. Is it here they are taking care of 
 a man who was hurt? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. 
 
 Malvaloca. You know the man I mean? 
 [16] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Leonardo. Is it Salvador Garcia? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, of course, Salvador Garcia. 
 How is he? 
 
 Leonardo. Almost well now. 
 
 Malvaloca. He is? But was he dangerously 
 ill? 
 
 Leonardo. I wouldn't say dangerously so, but 
 he suffered enough. His burns were horrible, and 
 the treatment was heroic. 
 
 Malvaloca. It got about in Seville that he 
 burned himself in a furnace. 
 
 Leonardo. Great heavens! 
 
 Malvaloca. Gossip — ^just talk, wasn't it? Some 
 one told me about it. Who was it? Oh! that pug- 
 nosed Matilda! She never could bear him. 
 
 Leonardo. Have you just come from Seville? 
 
 Malvaloca. Just this minute. All I did was 
 to fix up a bit and look for the Home. I came to 
 get at the truth, so as not to leave any doubt in my 
 mind. I wanted to see him. 
 
 Leonardo. You must be a great friend of his. 
 
 Malvaloca. Uh ! 
 
 [This "Uh" of Malvaloca's is a sort of a 
 little trill. She always uses it vnth an exagger- 
 ated inflection and a humorous gesture, when 
 [17] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 she is not sure of expressing in words what 
 she toishes to say. Her imagination 'puts a 
 world of meaning into each " Uh."] 
 
 Leonardo. A very great friend, eh? 
 
 Malvaloca. I'm still his friend. I have been 
 a tiny bit more than that, but that's a thing of the 
 past, now. 
 
 Leonardo. Except the friendship, of course. 
 
 Malvaloca. Are you Salvador's friend, too? 
 
 Leonardo. Something more than a friend. 
 
 Malvaloca. How's that? 
 
 Leonardo. We are partners in the foundry busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Malvaloca. What foundry? 
 
 Leonardo. The brass foundry in which the ac- 
 cident occurred. Didn't you hear about it? 
 
 Malvaloca. It's been more than two years 
 since I've seen him; but now I'm thinking. . . . 
 Who was it told me that Salvador was mixed up 
 with kettles and things? 
 
 Leonardo [smiling]. Probably the information 
 came from the same source as the other. 
 
 Malvaloca. No, it wasn't the Pug-nose. But 
 what difference does it make who it was? So you 
 
 and Salvador are ? 
 
 [18] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Leonardo. Partners. 
 
 Malvaloca. Both of you? 
 
 Lbonabdo. Naturally. 
 
 Malvaloca. Since when? 
 
 Leonardo. Since not very long ago. Although 
 our friendship is very recent, we are already very 
 intimate. 
 
 Malvaloca. Salvador is very attractive. 
 
 Leonardo. Very. 
 
 Malvaloca. He kind of fascinates people, don't 
 you think? 
 
 Leonardo. He has fascinated me at any rate. 
 
 Malvaloca. He does that to every one he meets. 
 Sympathy is what counts in this world. 
 
 Leonardo. Do you think so? 
 
 Malvaloca. I'm sure of it. Real love is noth- 
 ing more than sympathy, a sympathy so great — so 
 big — ^that you don't know how to Uve without the 
 person who gives it to you. 
 
 Leonardo. Perhaps. 
 
 Malvaloca. Call it what you will: love, friend- 
 ship, affection, take your choice. Look at it 
 closely and you have — sympathy. Don't you sup- 
 pose that thieves love each other more than fools 
 do? Why is it? Because thieves are always more 
 [19] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 fascinating — more sympathetic. Why — ^now don't 
 you be afraid of me! 
 
 Leonakdo. Well, you may be right. 
 
 Malvaloca. How did you happen to fall in 
 with this rascal? 
 
 Leonardo. You just gave the reason: sympathy, 
 fellow feeling. We were traveling together; we 
 happened on this abandoned foundry in the village; 
 and we decided to try our luck.- We both Uked the 
 same things. The foundry used to be called "Suc- 
 cessors to — somebody or other," but Salvador has 
 christened it with the high-sounding name of "La 
 Nina de Bronce." 
 
 Malvaloca. Ah! "La Nina de Bronce!" I 
 know why. 
 
 Leonardo. Did he name it after you? 
 
 Malvaloca. No, Senor; after another woman — 
 the hussy! But where is he? I want to see him. 
 
 Leonahdo. I expect him here now. 
 
 Malvaloca. You expect him here? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. One of the Sisters has gone 
 in to tell him of my arrival. 
 
 Malvaloca. I feel like giving him a good hug, 
 poor boy. He's a great rascal, you know, but at 
 the same time, he's very much of a gentleman. He's 
 [20] 
 
MALVALOCA AO, I 
 
 always behaved very well toward me. I never 
 knocked once at his door without his answering. 
 I'm sure I shall never die in a hospital while he's 
 alive. Is that San Antonio? He has a face like a 
 musician. What's he peddling — ^peas? TeU me, 
 were you in the foundry when the accident happened ? 
 
 Leonabdo. Certainly. 
 
 Malvaloca. How did it happen? How did it 
 happen? Would you mind telling me? 
 
 Leonabdo. Not in the least. We were going 
 to cast a figure for a new fountain in Los Alcdzares, 
 a neighboring village 
 
 MALVAiiOCA. I know the place. It never rains 
 there. Phew! 
 
 Leonardo. The mould for the figure which we 
 were going to cast was already covered up in the 
 ground. Then we were about to pour the molten 
 bronze from the crucibles into a hole which was 
 left in the surface. 
 
 Malvaloca. From the what? 
 
 Leonardo. From the crucibles. Crucibles are 
 great jars which are capable of resisting the highest 
 temperatures without cracking or breaking. In 
 these, when they are put into the furnaces, the hard- 
 est bronze is converted into a liquid fire. 
 [21] 
 
Act J MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. So you could stick your finger into 
 it! 
 
 Leonardo. Then, as I was telling you, it passes 
 from the furnace into the ground where the mould 
 of whatever we are casting is buried. It was in this 
 step that the accident happened to Salvador. 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. We were carrying the crucible 
 from the furnace with what we call "hand carriers." 
 If the crucible is a large one, it sometimes takes from 
 four to six men to carry it, and to make the casting. 
 Salvador was one of these" men. Very well; when 
 they came to pour the Uquid through the spout into 
 the mould, one of the men slipped. This caused 
 some of the liquid to be spilled, and it spattered 
 on Salvador's breast and arm and leg. 
 
 Malvaloca. Phew! 
 
 Leonardo. If he had given way to the pain, 
 and had let all of the liquid fire spill and scatter, it 
 might have burned some man to death. Salvador 
 made a heroic effort and shouted: "Cast!" The 
 others obeyed him and poured the moulten stuff 
 into the ground. When there wasn't a drop in 
 the crucible, he dropped the handle and fell into my 
 arms in a dead faint. 
 
 [22] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad I 
 
 Malvaloca. Poor fellow! 
 
 Leonardo. Two Sisters from this Home had 
 stopped at the shops to ask for alms. They were 
 overcome and greatly affected by the scene, and 
 insisted that we carry him here, it being but a step 
 from the foundry. So here we brought him, here 
 he stayed, and here he will remain. 
 
 MALVAiiOCA. Well, he certainly must have had 
 a hard time of it. He's not very tough. Pinch 
 him ever so little, and it will hiyt him. Why do 
 you suppose he isn't here yet? 
 
 Leonardo. I don't know. It surely is late. 
 Perhaps the doctor has come. 
 
 Malvaloca. Is he a good doctor? A good 
 veterinary is the best they have in most of these 
 villages. 
 
 Leonardo. He must be a good one. He's 
 brought Salvador out of it in a hurry. I'll go see 
 what the trouble is, and tell him that you are here. 
 
 Malvaloca. If you would be so kind. 
 
 Leonardo. It's a very great pleasure. [He 
 starts to go, but turns back.] Who shall I say is wait- 
 ing for him? I don't know your 
 
 Malvaloca. To be sure! Tell him — ^tell him 
 that Malvaloca is here. 
 
 [23] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonabdo. Malvaloca? 
 
 Malvaloca. Does that name sound queer to 
 you? 
 
 Leonardo. No. But it surprises me. 
 
 Malvaloca. That's what I have always been 
 called since I was thirteen. My name is Rosa, at 
 your service. 
 
 Leonardo. Thanks very much. 
 
 Malvaloca. But you say "Malvaloca" to 
 Salvador. Would you like to know why they call 
 me Malvaloca? 
 
 Leonardo. Why do they? 
 
 Malvaloca. I was born in Malaga in a little 
 house which had a flower box in the doorway. There 
 was a little flower in the box called malvaloca. 
 And people knew the house by the malvaloca. So 
 far, so good; but the malvaloca died. Since every- 
 body knew my house as the house where the mal- 
 valoca grew, and since the flower was no longer 
 there, why, I became the Malvaloca! So, instead 
 of there being a flower on the doorstep, there was a 
 little girl, inside. You see how simple it all is. 
 Only it has to be explained, that's all. 
 
 Leonardo [in a peculiarly impressed frame of mind 
 which partly confirms the theory of sympathy espoused 
 [24] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 by the engaging Malvaloca]. I'm going to tell 
 Salvador you are here. 
 
 [Goes out through the garden, to the right. 
 MAiiVALOCA [when alone]. That man is attractive, 
 too. [Looking toward the door.] Who is this little 
 old woman coming? She must be one of the in- 
 mates. But how small she is! Why, it doesn't 
 seem possible! She looks like a little wax figure. 
 
 [Enter Makiqtjita, proceeding in the opposite 
 direction down the corridor. Malvaloca 
 watches her as though enthralled. She is an 
 old woman almost small enough to fit into 
 San Antonio's jar of peas.] 
 Mariquita [as she passes in front of Malvaloca]. 
 God keep you, sister. 
 Malvaloca. God be with you, little sister. 
 MABiQtnTA. May you always keep well. 
 Malvaloca. Are you one of the inmates of the 
 Home? 
 
 Makiquita [stops]. Yes, Seflorita. 
 Malvaloca. Have you been here long? 
 Mabiqtjita. Four years. Ever since I lost my 
 son who was killed by the Moors. 
 Malvaloca. Your son was killed in the wars? 
 Mabiquita. The only one I had. 
 [25] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. What a shame ! [Makiquita makes 
 a gesture of grief and resignation.] Are there many 
 of you old people in the Home? 
 
 Maeiquita. Six, at present. Two women and 
 four men. 
 
 Malvaloca. This was a convent once, wasn't it? 
 
 Mariquita. Yes, Senorita, the Convent of 
 Carmen. When the last nun died, the Sisters of 
 Charity came here to live. 
 
 Malvaloca. Ah! Tell me, little sister, do they 
 receive alms? 
 
 Makiquita. It's this way: they live by charity, 
 and we live by their charity. 
 
 Malvaloca. Here, take this. [She takes a 
 silver dollar from her purse and gives it to her.] 
 
 Maeiquita [astonished]. What's this? 
 
 Malvaloca. A dollar. 
 
 Maeiquita. But I can't change it for you: 
 
 Malvaloca. It is for you, little sister. 
 
 Maeiquita. For me? 
 
 Malvaloca [barvteringly]. To buy a new nat 
 with! 
 
 Maeiquita [smiling through her tears]. A hat — 
 for me! 
 
 Malvaloca. Or whatever else you may need. 
 [26] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Mabiquita. a petticoat! 
 
 Malvaloca. As you like, sister. 
 
 Mariquita. Are you rich? 
 
 Malvaloca. Huh! 
 
 Mariquita. They don't give such big gifts in 
 the streets. Two Sisters leave here every day to 
 ask for ahns, and you should see how little they 
 pick up! And Usten to this: last Saturday a man 
 even struck Sister Piedad! 
 
 Malvaloca. Who did it? 
 
 Mariquita. A drunken man — ^how do I know 
 who he was? She went into a house whose door 
 was open, thinking that it was a private house; but 
 it was a tavern. But as she is very strong-minded 
 in a qmet way, she never stopped at all, just went 
 ahead and begged for alms for the poor. And 
 that old drunken brute began to talk filth to her, and 
 then struck her. 
 
 Malvaloca. What did the Sister do then? 
 
 Mariqihta. Well, as she started to go, the 
 Sister said to him: "Very well, that was for me. 
 Now give me something for the poor." 
 
 Malvaloca [struck vrith admiration]. Ah! 
 
 Mariquita. When the Innkeeper heard her, he 
 threw the drunken man into the street, and gave her 
 [27] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 a fine gift. The next day, when he was sober, the 
 fellow came and begged her forgiveness. You 
 should have heard Sister Piedad! She knows a 
 lot about those things. 
 
 Malvaloca. Is that she who is sewing over 
 there? 
 
 Mabiqttita. No, Senorita. Sister Piedad is a 
 beautiful little woman. She married very young, 
 her husband died, and then she came here; because 
 she said she didn't have any one to love in the world. 
 If she comes out here, I'll point her out to you. 
 
 [At this moment, in the corridor, and from the 
 left, Don Salvadob, Leonakdo's -partner, 
 enters. He is a man of about the same age as 
 Leonardo, and of a very intelligent and 
 wideawake appearance. His left hand rests 
 in a silk handkerchief which is knotted about 
 his neck. When he sees Malvaloca, he is 
 very much surprised and delighted.] 
 Salvador. Can I beUeve my eyes? 
 Malvaloca. My poor little boy! 
 Salvador. Malvaloca! You here? What does 
 this mean? 
 
 Malvaloca. It means that I have come to see 
 you. 
 
 [28] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad I 
 
 Salvador. God bless you, little girl. God bles» 
 you. 
 
 Malvaloca. How are your burns? 
 
 Salvadok. All well. 
 
 Malvaloca. That's better. I've brought you 
 good luck. 
 
 Salvador. You always do. Sit down a while. 
 
 Malvaloca. No, I can't. 
 
 Mariquita. Are you in love with him? 
 
 Salvador. She was, but she left me for an- 
 other. 
 
 Malvaloca [to Mariquita]. Tell him he lies. 
 
 Salvador [to Mariquita]. Do you like her? 
 
 Mariquita. She is beautiful. And look! [Shcyws 
 him the money.] 
 
 Salvador. Good heavens! 
 
 Mariquita [laughing]. She says it is for a hat! 
 God bless her. 
 
 Malvaloca. Good-bye. 
 
 PMariquita goes on her way dreaming of the 
 petticoat which she is to buy.] 
 
 Salvador [to Malvaloca, loilh a satisfied air]. 
 Well, how about it? 
 
 Malvaloca. Man, but I'm glad to see you! 
 
 Salvador. And I to see you. 
 [29] 
 
Act J MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. To think that at your age, you'd 
 be in a Home for the Aged! 
 
 Salvador. Time flies. On the other hand, you 
 never grow old. You're as pretty as ever. 
 
 Malvaloca. It's your eyes, and because I just 
 deaned up a quarter of an hour ago. They've al- 
 ready told me how you acted the day of the acci- 
 dent. How brave you were! 
 
 Salvador. Who told you all that? 
 
 Malvaloca. Your friend. 
 
 Salvador. What friend? 
 
 Malvaloca. Your partner. 
 
 Salvador. Is he here? 
 
 Malvaloca. Well! He went to look for you, and 
 a Sister went in before him. Where have you been? 
 
 Salvador. In the tower. Have you been talk- 
 ing to Leonardo much? 
 
 Malvaloca. To whom? 
 
 Salvador. To my partner, Leonardo. 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh, so that's his name? Well, 
 from the way Leonardo looks at you, you would 
 think he was going to take your picture. He's a 
 man of rare importance, isn't he? 
 
 Salvador. Yes, indeed. And what is more, he 
 is a splendid fellow. 
 
 [30] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Malvaloca. How does he come to be a friend 
 of yours, then? 
 
 Salvador. The meeting of two extremes. 
 
 Malvaloca. Extremes? 
 
 Salvador. Yes, Leonardo has the trait which I 
 should most like to have — determination. He is 
 very unusual. He does whatever he pleases. You 
 have to know how to get along with him, however. 
 Well, to show you the kind of a man he is: he could 
 have hved quietly and pleasantly at home with his 
 father, who also had a foundry. But his father, 
 who was a widower, wished to marry again. Leon- 
 ardo gave him to imderstand that neither he nor 
 his sister wanted another mother. So he spent 
 that night at home, but left early the next morning. 
 He found a place for his sister with an aunt and 
 uncle of his who had no children, and then he went 
 out into the world to seek his fortune. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, that shows that he is a man 
 with some feeling. 
 
 Salvador. He is. He's as strong and imbending 
 as bronze. 
 
 Malvaloca. Does his sister live with him 
 now? 
 
 Salvador. No, she is still with her aunt and 
 [31] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 uncle. But she is coming to visit Leonardo soon, 
 for a few days. 
 
 Maltaloca. He isn't an Andalusian, is he? 
 
 Salvador. No. He came from Asturias. 
 
 Malvaloca. How do you suppose he ever hap- 
 pened to be bom so far away? 
 
 Salvador. How do I know? But, little girl, 
 I'm glad you came. 
 
 Malvaloca. Will you be sensible? Wouldn't 
 you have done the same? You know how I am. 
 A friend of mine asked me if I had heard about 
 your having been toasted Uke — ^like San Lorenzo, 
 and I just packed up and came! You know me — 
 sometimes I think there is nothing but heart in my 
 head. 
 
 Salvador. In your head? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, don't you think so? 
 
 Salvador. Why, yes, naturally; you haven't 
 much else there! 
 
 Malvaloca. That's why I never have head- 
 aches. 
 
 Salvador. What have you where your heart 
 should be? 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh, something with a fence around 
 it, and a dog to keep people out! 
 [32] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad I 
 
 Saltadob. Why, I heard that a German- 
 
 Malvaloca. Come, you know I never take beer 
 in the summer. 
 
 Salvador. Are you still living in Seville? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, just at present. 
 
 Salvador. And your mother? 
 
 Malvaloca. Is in Sestona. 
 
 Salvador [laughing]. Sestona! 
 
 Malvaloca. Don't laugh. It's either Sestona, or 
 Fitero, or Vichy. She's always the same. If I have 
 money, it's "My darling child, my own flesh and 
 blood, joy of my old age" — all that kind of non- 
 sense. But, if I'm poor, she snatches two or three 
 of my shawls, pawns them, and takes the train for 
 some kind of fashionable Baths. I never saw a 
 woman who could drink so much of so many kinds 
 of water. [Salvador laughs oviright.] Why, she 
 is just pu£Fed up with it! 
 
 Salvador. And your father? 
 
 Malvaloca. He's a different sort. He doesn't 
 drink water; he drinks by the barrel! Oh — ^I don't 
 like to talk of my family. Heavens! If they had 
 turned me out as ugly as I am pretty, I'd be for 
 throwing them into one of your crucibles. 
 
 Salvador. You're just your old self. 
 [33] 
 
Ad I MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh! let's drop them, poor things. 
 How about your father, is he in the village? 
 
 Salvador. Yes, still there. 
 
 Malvaloca. Busy with his photography? 
 
 Salvador. And with a little shop where he sells 
 frames, which have been on his hands for about a 
 year now. He manages to keep himself alive. 
 I think I shall pay him a visit when I get well, so as 
 to convince him that my burns really amounted to 
 nothing. 
 
 Malvaloca. But they must have amounted to 
 something? 
 
 Salvador. A part of the life. 
 
 Malvaloca. I know. How did you happen to 
 turn out such a rogue? 
 
 Salvador. A rogue? 
 
 Malvaloca. Foundryman. It's the same. 
 
 Salvador. You remember I always had a taste 
 for that sort of thing. I met the fellow; we seemed 
 to take to each other at once; and nothing more 
 was necessary. He has many illusions — ^I haven't 
 quite so many; but I'm glad he has them. So that's 
 the way I came to have a foundry in case you have 
 need of one. Is there anything I can do for you? 
 
 Malvaloca. You might make me two dragons. 
 [34] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Salvadok. Two dragons? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. One for a father, and one 
 for a mother! 
 
 [They laugh.] 
 
 Salvador. That's the very first thing I'll do 
 when I get back to the shops. 
 
 Malvaloca. Do you expect to be here long, now? 
 
 Salvador. No, not much longer. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, then, Usten: If I come 
 agam, don't tell any one who I am. 
 
 Salvador. Why not? A friend of mine 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh! Suit yourself ! 
 
 Salvador. Well, if I don't tell — who shall I 
 say you are? 
 
 Malvaloca. The best thing to say is that I 
 am English; that will account for anything. Here 
 comes your partner. 
 
 [At this moment Leonardo and Sister. 
 FiEDAD enter from ttnthin.] 
 
 Leonardo. Here he is. Sister! 
 
 Sister Piedad. So we have foimd you at last? 
 
 Salvador. Here I am. 
 
 Malvaloca. Good morning. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Good morning. [To Salvador.] 
 We have been looking for you all over the house. 
 [35] 
 
An I MALVALOCA 
 
 Salvador. I just climbed up into the bell tower. 
 
 Malvaloca. Sister, with your permission 
 
 SiSTSR PiEDAD. I'm at your service. 
 
 Malvaloca. Would you mind teUing me where 
 the chapel is? 
 
 Sister Piedad. I'll show it to you, myself. 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh, no ! don't bother. 
 
 Sister Piedad. It's no bother, I assure you. 
 
 Malvaloca. Are you Sister Piedad? 
 
 Sister Piedad. And happy to serve you. Shall 
 we go? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. [To Salvador.] I'll be back 
 soon. 
 
 Salvador. Don't you forget to come back. 
 Sister Piedad. 
 
 Sister Piedad. I? 
 
 Salvador. To talk over that little matter before 
 Leonardo goes. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Oh, yes! I'll be right back. 
 [To Malvaloca.] This way, please. 
 
 Leonardo. Who is this woman? 
 
 Salvador. Sister Piedad? Why, haven't you 
 heard 
 
 Leonardo. Stop your joking. I mean the 
 other. 
 
 [36] 
 
MALVALOCA 
 
 Aet I 
 
 Salvadob. 
 cinnamon ! 
 Leonardo. 
 Salvadoe. 
 Leonardo. 
 Salvadoh. 
 Leonardo. 
 
 Oh, the other is spice — essence of 
 
 Yes, yes. 
 
 They call her Malvaloca. 
 I know that. 
 
 Then what do you want to know? 
 Something more than her name. 
 Tell me everything you know about her that I do 
 not. 
 
 Salvador. Her history would make a rather 
 long story. Imagine for yourself. She is like no 
 one else in the world, and yet she is like a great 
 many — a pretty face, a not very wise head, and 
 she comes from a house where they are very poor. 
 That is the beginning of the story. I know a bit 
 more in detail of some of the chapters. 
 Leonardo. Has she been an affair of yours? 
 Salvador. Yes; some time ago, however. 
 Leonardo. Well, she still feels grateful to you. 
 Salvador. Because I did the right thing by her. 
 Leonardo. Yes? 
 
 Salvador. Yes. I took her to a small restau- 
 rant in Cordoba for luncheon, asked her to wait a 
 moment while I went for tobacco, and then, after 
 two years, I went back to see if she was there! 
 [37] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonardo. You did that? 
 
 Salvador. To see if she was still faithful. 
 
 Leonardo. Bah! You never did it. 
 
 Salvador. Yes, I did really. That was the 
 only way out of it. [He is silent a moment while 
 Sister Dolores passes down the corridor from right 
 to left.] Malvaloca is the sort of a woman who gets 
 to one's heart. We were growing to be more and 
 more fond of each other. She even burst into tears 
 two or three times — ^and this having a woman cry 
 over me is not what I like. Tears make a chain 
 which is stronger than any we make in the shops. 
 
 Leonardo. I don't understand why you left 
 her if you cared so much for her. And I under- 
 stand much less how she can endure now to see your 
 face. 
 
 Salvador. I'll tell you. Time went on — and 
 things happened to us — and when the little girl 
 died, I was the first to be at her side. 
 
 Leonardo. Ah! So she lost a child? 
 
 Salvador. A little girl as pretty as a picture. 
 She was four years old. That was the saddest 
 thing that ever happened to Malvaloca. The little 
 girl was a balm for all her troubles. 
 
 Leonardo. What a pity! 
 [38] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Salvadok. She has a great many troubles, too. 
 Yet she is better than most women I've met. 
 
 Leonardo. That's the way she seemed to me. 
 She looks good. Deep down in those eyes of hers, 
 the first Ught you see is Goodness. 
 
 Salvador. Do you know 
 
 Leonardo. What.!* 
 
 Salvador. Nothing; I had a bad thought. 
 
 Leonardo. But what are you laughing at? 
 
 Salvador. At you, probably. 
 
 Leonardo. But why at me? 
 
 Salvador. Well — "The first light you see is 
 Goodness!" I see, and yet I don't see — ^foundry- 
 man! 
 
 Leonardo. Don't be a fool. [Suddenly changinff 
 the subject.] What does Sister Piedad want with us? 
 
 Salvador. She will teU us herself soon, my friend. 
 We've got some work for "La Nina de Bronce." 
 
 Leonardo. That's good. I'm glad of it. 
 Sister Piedad enters at this moment. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Here I am. 
 
 Salvador. All right. Now let's talk about 
 La Golondrina. 
 
 Leonardo. La Golondrina? 
 
 Sister Piedad. That's what the people call 
 [39] 
 
Act J MALVAM)CA 
 
 her, though her real name is Santa Teresa. She 
 is the convent bell, and is broken. 
 
 Leonardo. I should say she was broken. 
 Couldn't be anything else. Every morning and 
 afternoon I hear her from the foundry, and it sets 
 my nerves on edge. It sounds Uke the devil! 
 
 SisTEK PiEDAD. The devil.'' 
 
 Leonardo. I beg your pardon. Sister. I mean 
 she couldn't sound worse. 
 
 Sister Piedad. How would you expect her to 
 soimd after having been broken for four years? 
 
 Leonardo. Well, she must be mended. I wish 
 everything in the world could be fixed as easily. 
 
 Salvador. Do you hear. Sister? Didn't I tell 
 you Leonardo was our man? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, indeed. A broken bell in a 
 building like this, two steps from a foimdry, is a 
 disgrace to the foimdrymen. 
 
 Salvador. Without even taking into consider- 
 ation the fact that some way or other we must pay 
 the Sisters for the care they have taken of me. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Don't talk nonsense, brother. 
 
 We only did what God willed us to do. But if 
 
 you succeed in making Santa Teresa — La Golon- 
 
 drina — sing as she used to do through your skill, 
 
 [40] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 lifting her voice to Heaven, then, from the Mother 
 Superior down to the humblest nun (who is your 
 servant), we will have neither words nor deeds good 
 enough to repay you. 
 
 Leonardo. Well, you can count upon its being 
 done. Have you seen the bell, Salvador? 
 
 Salvador. Yes. It is cracked from top to bottom. 
 
 Leonardo. That is not strange, if she had such 
 a beautiful tone as you say. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Why is that? 
 
 Leonardo. The louder and sweeter-toned bells 
 are, the more fragile they are. The one we like to 
 hear best is that which is broken most easily. 
 
 Salvador. They are like women in that respect. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Hush, man, hush! You are 
 always thinking of women. 
 
 Salvador. BeUs have tongues, and that's what 
 makes me think of them. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Very well, but do stop joking. 
 
 Leonardo. In spite of the jest, Sister Piedad — 
 and this chap has the vice of joking when he is most 
 serious — ^we are going to recast La Golondrina in 
 "La Nina de Bronce," and she will be as good then 
 as she ever was. 
 
 Sister Piedad. God will repay you for it. That 
 [41] 
 
Ad I MALVALOCA 
 
 is precisely what I wanted to know; if she will be 
 what she used to be — if after she is repaired she will 
 be the same. 
 
 Leonakdo. The very same. Made of the same 
 material, cast from the same bronze. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Very good. If she will be as 
 you say — very good. She is hallowed by traditions, 
 by many memories which are dear. 
 
 Leonardo. Well, you shall see she will be the 
 same as before. La Golondrina will take flight, 
 leave her tower, enter our shops, will stay a few days 
 with us, the fire will consume her in order to give 
 her new life, and then she will retina to her nest, 
 singing better than she ever did. 
 
 Salvador. Or, to use another metaphor, La 
 Golondrina is a dark little girl who is hoarse. She 
 consults a couple of doctors, and upon her returning 
 home after her visit, she answers with a voice which 
 makes even the birds pause to hsten. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Didn't I tell you? His mind is 
 always on the same thing. [To Martin, who re- 
 enters.] Martin, did you hear? 
 
 Martin. What, Sister? 
 
 Sister Piedad. The miracle I told you about is 
 going to happen. 
 
 [42] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 Martin. What miracle? 
 
 Sister Piedad. The miracle of La Golondrina, 
 who, thanks be to God for putting such good and 
 intelligent men in the world, is going to ring as she 
 used to. 
 
 Martin [trembling with joy]. Sister! Is it pos- 
 sible? 
 
 Sister Piedad. It is indeed. Don Leonardo 
 and his friend are going' to take her to the foundry 
 and are going to return her to us as good as new. 
 Aren't you? 
 
 Leonardo. We are. 
 
 Martin. Show me where those gentlemen are. 
 I want to kiss their hands. 
 
 Sister Piedad. What you ought to do is to 
 give thanks to the Lord! 
 
 Martin. And kiss their hands! 
 
 Leonardo. Are you the beUman? 
 
 Martin. I am, Senor, and at your service. 
 Don't you see how I am trembling? 
 
 Salvador. Martip loves La Golondrina as though 
 she belonged to him. 
 
 Martin. As[though she were my very own, Sefior. 
 
 Sister Piedad. He pulled the rope the first 
 time she was rung in this tower. 
 143] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Martin. I am the man! I was young then. 
 Since that time we have never been separated. She 
 has been my child, my sweetheart, my playmate — 
 even my mother — all in one. I've always told her 
 all my secrets. 
 
 Leonabdo. Well, then. I'm all the more happy 
 at what we are going to do. 
 
 Maktin. No one can tell what it means to me, 
 Senor. I suppose you gentlemen never heard La 
 Golondrina before her accident? 
 
 Leonardo. I never did. 
 
 Salvador. Nor I. 
 
 Sister Piedad. But I did. 
 
 Martin. Just as the Sister says: it seemed like 
 a voice from Heaven. She awakened the village 
 by her call. She made the fields happy when day 
 came. She called Christian people to prayer, and 
 she wept for the dead. When my wife died, I tolled 
 La Golondrina for her funeral, and I had no better 
 consolation than her voice. How sad she did sound! 
 
 Sister Piedad. Don't excite yourself too much, 
 Martin. You will feel worse for it later on. 
 
 Salvador. Let him talk. 
 
 Martin. After the news you have given me, I 
 shan't be able to control myself for days. You see 
 [44] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 I'm getting old. Well, since La Golondrina was 
 broken, I haven't kept count of my years. She 
 never grew old, and I lived as though she were 
 my heart. Sister 
 
 Sister Piedad. What is it. Brother? 
 
 Maktin. May I tell Barrabas the news? 
 
 Sister Piedad. Nothing more than just tell it 
 to him? 
 
 Martin. That's all — that's all. He won't want 
 to argue either, now. You'll see! 
 
 Sister Piedad. Very well, then. But be care- 
 ful what you say. 
 
 Martin. Don't you worry. Sister. Gentlemen, 
 if my prayers reach Heaven, you will never want 
 for anything in this world. I will give what life 
 there remains in me to La Golondrina after I've 
 rung her once more as I did before she was broken. 
 
 Sister Piedad. You may leave us now, brother. 
 
 Salvador. Good-bye, Martin. 
 
 Leonardo. Good-bye. 
 
 Martin [going toward the right in the orchard in 
 search of his implacable enemy], Barrabas! Sefior 
 Barrabas! I have some news for you, friend! 
 
 Salvador. Poor old man! [To Leonardo, who 
 is drying his eyes.] What's this — ^are you crying, too ? 
 [45] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonardo. Pish! 
 
 Salvador. But, man alive! 
 
 Leonardo. Foolishness! 
 
 Sister Piedad. He will tell the news to Barrabas 
 and to the whole place. Good old Martin will go 
 crazy with joy. 
 
 Leonardo. Why does he want to tell it to 
 Barrabas.? 
 
 Sister Piedad. Because Barrabas was baptized 
 in another church, and belongs to another faction. 
 In Las Canteras nothing arouses more antagonism 
 than a dispute about bells. Some side with La 
 Golondrina, and some with La Sonora, and the day 
 when no heads are broken over it is one of God's 
 miracles. 
 
 Leonardo. It all seems rather amusing. 
 
 [Sister Consuelo enters through the Gateway 
 of the Cross. She carries a smalT flask of 
 wine in her hand.] 
 
 Sister Consuelo. The doctor is here, Don 
 Salvador. 
 
 Salvador. Has he come? 
 
 Sister Consuelo. Yes, he is in your room. He 
 says that he is in a great hurry. 
 
 Salvador. I shall be with him immediately. 
 [46] 
 
MALVALOCA Act I 
 
 [Sister Consuelo removes the pan of peas 
 from the statue of San Antonio, and sets 
 down the flask of wine. She goes out by 
 the same way she came in.] 
 Leonardo. Well, good-bye. I'm going now. 
 [Malvaloca reenters from the left of the cor- 
 ridor. Salvador does not see her as he 
 starts to leave at that moment.] 
 Malvaloca. Are you going? 
 Salvador. Ah, Malvaloca! Yes, the doctor is 
 here, and I am going up to him. Will you wait? 
 Malvaloca. No, I'll come back this afternoon. 
 Salvador. That's better. I'll see you later, then. 
 Malvaloca. Good-bye. 
 
 Salvador. I'U be expecting you. I'm awfully 
 glad you came to see me. 
 
 Malvaloca. And I, to see you're out of danger. 
 Good-bye. 
 Salvador. Good-bye. 
 
 [He goes in through the Gateway of the Cross. 
 Sister Dolores also appears at the left, 
 seeming a bit perturbed. She speaks to 
 Sister Piedad aside and shows a jewel to 
 her. Meanwhile, Leonardo and Mal- 
 valoca are saying good-bye.] 
 [47] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. I'm very happy to have met you. 
 
 Lbonabdo. More than I am to have met you? 
 
 Malvaloca. Just the same, probably. 
 
 Leonardo. It can't be. Remember there is 
 some difference between you and me. 
 
 Malvaloca. Caramba! Our Andalusian ways 
 are going to your head. 
 
 Leonakdo. But they're rather difficult to acquire. 
 
 Malvaloca. Nothing is difficult. We shall 
 see, however. I suppose you will be coming here 
 again to see your friend? 
 
 Leonardo. Of course! 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, then, we'll see each other. 
 
 Leonardo. Indeed we shall. 
 
 Sister Piedad [approaching Malvaloca]. Sister ! 
 
 Malvaloca. What is it? 
 
 Sister Piedad. I wonder, was it you — it must 
 have been — was it you who left this jewel on the 
 altar before the Virgin? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. I left it for the poor. 
 
 [Sister Dolores goes to tell Sister Carmen 
 about the matter. Leonardo follows the 
 incident with interest and emotion.] 
 
 Sister Piedad. For the poor? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. 
 
 [48] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad I 
 
 SisTEB PiEDAD [very much overcome]. But sister, 
 a gift in this form, and of this value 
 
 Malvaloca. Do you mean? . . . Is it be- 
 cause it comes from me? 
 
 Sister Piedad. Oh, no! sister, I don't know 
 who you are. I only know that you came here to 
 see a sick friend, that you went to pray to the 
 Virgin, and that you left this jewel on her altar for 
 the poor. Why should I disapprove of anything 
 that comes from your hands? Besides, wherever 
 the jewel comes from, my dear sister, it brings with 
 it a radiance that outshines the hand that gives it. 
 
 Malvaloca [in a sudden burst of feeling at hearing 
 her, and toUh that natural intimacy and charming 
 simjdidty with which she does everything]. Well, 
 then, if you can't see the hand that gives it, take 
 this, too ! [She takes the gold chain from her neck and 
 gives it to her.] 
 
 Sister Piedad. Sister! 
 
 Malvaloca. It's for the poor. 
 
 Sister Piedad. But 
 
 Malvaloca. That's the only way I know how 
 to be good! For the poor! [She looks at both their 
 faces and smiles.] Well, I'll see you later. 
 
 [Exit hurriedly into the garden. 
 [49] 
 
Act I MALVALOCA 
 
 Sister Piedad. Who is this girl? 
 Leonabdo. I have only just met her myself. 
 Sister. Good-bye until this afternoon. 
 SisTEE Piedad. God be with you. 
 Leonardo. Good-bye, Sister. 
 
 [Malvaloca, who, as she came in, stopped like 
 a dove orienting herself in the garden, again 
 pauses, and at last goes out firmly to the left 
 — upstage. Leonardo follows her, although 
 with an effort at concealment, as if his manly 
 spirit were enmeshed in the fine fringe of 
 the woman's shawl. 
 
 Sister Piedad is mu^h moved. With 
 
 tears in her eyes she stands looking at the 
 
 jewels as she repeats Malvaloca's words.] 
 
 Sister Piedad. That's the only way she knows 
 
 how to be good! 
 
 [Upstage, Sister Dolores talks it over with 
 Sister Carmen, who, in deference to the 
 extraordinary interest of the scene, suspends 
 for a moment her constant and quiet work.] 
 
 End of Act One 
 
 [50] 
 
ACT II 
 
ACT n 
 
 A large, irregular, well-lighted court between Leon- 
 ardo's house and the workshops of "La Nina de 
 Bronce." To the left of the actor is the entrance of 
 the house. To the right, that of the foundry. Up- 
 stage is a wall through which is a small gateway lead- 
 ing into a yard which gives access to the street. 
 Before the house doorway is a covered porch vnth 
 dark green roof tiles and white pillars. These 
 rest upon huge bases of brick, also white. In the 
 shelter afforded by this porch is Leonardo's work- 
 table. Several flower boxes vdth geraniums and 
 roses adcyrn the place. In a corner to the right there 
 is a heaped-up pile of old material from the foundry. 
 It is morning in the mordh of May. 
 
 Enter Salvador from the shops wiih a roll of 
 papers in his hand. He wears a long blouse and a 
 cap. He goes to Leonardo's table, puts the rolls 
 of paper upon it, and examines various documents 
 vnth interest. Tebesona enters through the gate- 
 [53] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 way from the yard. Once caretaker of the shops, 
 she is now Leonaedo's servant. She comes from 
 the market-place carrying a huge basket on her arm, 
 full of the day's provisions. She stops to address 
 Salvador before entering the house. 
 
 Tebesona. Good morning, Sefior, and welcome. 
 
 Salvador. Hello, Teresona. 
 
 Teresona. I was sleeping like a top but I knew 
 when you arrived last night, and that you came to 
 see the master. 
 
 Salvador. Yes. ... I asked for you when 
 I arrived. 
 
 Teresona. Don Leonardo's sister also came yes- 
 terday, but in the morning. 
 
 Salvador. I saw her last night. 
 
 Teresona. How pretty she is, and what a sweet 
 face she has! But how was your father? 
 
 Salvador. As well and strong as ever. 
 
 Teresona. May God keep him many years 
 for you. I suppose you heard all the news of what 
 happened during the month you were away? 
 
 Salvador. I'm finding out little by little. 
 
 Teresona. Don Salvador, there are times when 
 the best of us get into a Uttle difficulty, but who- 
 [54] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 ever gets mixed up in a fight is lost. 1 look on and 
 keep still. It's the old women in the village who 
 do the gossiping, and they can do it, too. [She shows 
 him some coral earrings which she wears.] Look, 
 Senor, he gave me these, so I keep mum. Is there 
 anything you wish.? 
 Salvador. No, you may go now. 
 Tebesona. Good-bye, Senor. 
 
 [Exit into the house, 
 Salvador. Bah! I knew it must happen to 
 him. 
 
 [He contimies to examine papers and hooks. 
 From this occupation he is distracted by the 
 unlooked-for appearance of Tio Jeromo who 
 enters through the gateway. He is Mal- 
 valoca's uncle, but one would not suspect 
 it from his looks. He is about fifty years of 
 age. He wears his cap wherever he goes, and 
 carries a small basket containing his lunch. 
 He walks toward the shops.] 
 Tio Jeromo [pleasantly surprised at seeing Sal- 
 vador]. Salvador! Is it you? Back already? 
 Salvador [very mu^k astonished]. Eh? 
 Tio Jeromo. I never would have known you in 
 that blouse. Did you have a good trip? 
 [55] 
 
Ad II MALVALOCA 
 
 Salvador. But I can't believe my eyes! You 
 here? How does that happen? 
 
 Tio Jekomo. Oh! Hasn't your partner told you 
 anything about it? Why, I've been working in the 
 foundry for a week now. 
 
 Salvador. You? 
 
 Tio Jekomo. Me! I heard of my niece's affair 
 with your partner and took advantage of it. You 
 know how Malvaloca has always provided for the 
 family. 
 
 Salvador. Well, yes! 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Does it look good to you, Salvador? 
 
 Salvador. Yes, very good! 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Now that you are here, just see if 
 I don't know a thing or two' 
 
 Salvador. Possibly. 
 
 Tio Jeromo [patting him familiarly on the back]. 
 You're a smart one! 
 
 Salvador. What do you mean by this familiar- 
 ity? When were you and I ever on such intimate 
 terms? 
 
 Tio Jeromo [disconcerted. Half in jest, and half 
 seriously]. Excuse me, Don Salvador, 
 
 Salvador. That's better. But keep your hat 
 in your hand — so. 
 
 [56] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Tio Jebomo. I thought we would be as we used 
 to 
 
 Salvador. That is all a thing of the past. Get 
 to work now. What are you working on? 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Anything that turns up. Odd jobs. 
 
 Salvador. Very likely. And have you per- 
 mission to get here later than the others? 
 
 Tio Jeromo. I have my niece to take care of. 
 What more do you want? I had an awful night 
 last night, Salvador. God keep you from anything 
 like it, God keep you! Excuse me, I didn't mean 
 to be so familiar. It was just habit. I have a 
 poor liver. 
 
 Salvador. Well, you can ciu-e it ... in 
 there! 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Here I go. I'm glad to see you 
 looking so well, Don Salvador. 
 
 Salvador. Thanks. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Excuse me if I have done wrong. 
 
 Salvador. That's all right. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. If there's any one I want to please 
 here, it's you, Don Salvador. 
 
 Salvador. In with you, man! 
 
 Tio Jeromo [much moved]. Don Salvador, please 
 don't act like that toward me. 
 [57] 
 
Act 11 MALVALOCA 
 
 Salvador. In with you! In with you! You're 
 more afraid of work than you are of an earthquake! 
 All this talk is merely to keep yourself from doing 
 anything. 
 
 Tio Jebomo [changing his tone and laughing]. You 
 make me laugh with your goings on. Good-bye. 
 
 [Exit, laughing, into the shops. Deep down in 
 
 his heart, however, there is a doubt as to the 
 
 security of his position]. 
 
 Salvadok. Well, I never thought things would 
 
 advance so rapidly. Now that we have the lobster 
 
 we'll have to clip his claws. We shall see, we shall 
 
 see. [Crosses to the door of the shops and calls.] 
 
 Lobito! Lobito! 
 
 [LoBiTO enters after a little. He is a very young 
 workman, wideawake and talkative. He is 
 in his shirtsleeves, wears a cap, very old 
 trousers, and "alpargatas" {canvas shoes 
 with rope soles). A coarse and dirty apron 
 is tied by a cord at his waist. In his hand 
 he carries a large file.] 
 Lobito. Did you call Sefior? 
 Salvador. Come here. Drop your file, and 
 let's smoke a cigarette. 
 Lobito. Thank you very much, Senor. I haven't 
 [58] 
 
MALVALOCA AA 11 
 
 felt the warmth of one in my hand for some time. 
 You got back last night, didn't you? 
 Salvador. Yes. Last night. 
 
 LoBiTO. [And we recast La Golondrina to- 
 day! 
 
 Salvador. To-day. I've abeady seen the ma- 
 terial in the crucibles, and Don Leonardo has told 
 me that the mould is in splendid condition. 
 
 LoBiTO. Yes, Senor. It was made very care- 
 fully. We've even come to blows in the shops about 
 La Golondrina. There are two parties of us. . . . 
 
 Salvador. To which do you belong? 
 
 LoBiTO. I stand up for La Golondriaa. I'm what 
 they call a "Volandero." But Manuel Martinez 
 and Bartolo and the hunch-back, with three or four 
 others, are "Swells." They are for the bell of the 
 Iglesia Mayor. 
 
 Salvador. Do you know what party the new 
 workman belongs to, and where he comes from? 
 
 LoBiTO. Him? Why the Utrera prison has the 
 honor! 
 
 Salvador. The prison? 
 
 LoBiTO. You forced me to tell you. 
 
 Salvador. Does he work hard? 
 
 LoBiTO. Work? He? Why, he's too good to 
 [59] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 carry a basket across the shop! The apprentices 
 call him Don Jeromo. 
 
 Salvador [laughing]. Then he must have come 
 strongly recommended. 
 
 LoBiTO. Are you joking? From the way he 
 spoke of you when you were away, I thought it was 
 you who did the recommending. 
 
 Salvador. So the shameless fellow speaks well 
 of me? 
 
 LoBiTo. He never stops! Never mentions your 
 name without praising you to the skies. 
 
 Salvador. Well, well! How badly Don Jeromo 
 is going to be repaid! 
 
 LoBiTO. Don't get mixed up in this thing, Sefior. 
 
 Salvador. Why not? 
 
 LoBiTO. Why not? Why, because he is her 
 uncle, and came here through her, and that is all 
 that need be said. 
 
 Salvador. Through her? And who is her ? 
 
 LoBiTO. That's a good one! This is a day for jokes. 
 
 Salvador. Is it Malvaloca? 
 
 LoBiTO. Of covu"se! Don't be foolish, Senor. 
 
 Salvador. No wonder, but I didn't know a 
 thing about it. Tell me — ^has this woman remained 
 in Las Canteras? 
 
 [60] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 LoBiTO. In Las Canteras and in Don Leonardo's 
 mind! She surely never is out of that. She lives 
 in one of Sra. Resolana's new houses. So far so good ; 
 when Don Leonardo is not there with her, she is 
 here with him. They can't leave each other. 
 
 Salvador. Does Malvaloca come here? 
 
 LoBiTO. She comes nearly every day. She came 
 into the shops from the very first. How we used to 
 laugh at her. She would keep you amused for a week. 
 But it's pretty well known that they told her that 
 she diverted us from work, for now she doesn't come 
 in much. It's too bad, for aside from her good 
 looks, she's more generous than most people I have 
 seen. 
 
 Salvadoh. She has a hole in her hand. I know 
 her. 
 
 LoBiTO. A hole? It's a regular sieve! 
 
 Salvador. So Leonardo is 
 
 LoBiTO. He's gone! When he comes from over 
 there, it's no use asking him anything. He won't 
 pay any attention to you. He only talks and 
 laughs to himself as if he were still with her. And 
 when he is waiting for her here, and she happens to 
 be a Uttle late — ^it's well to get out of his way. 
 Leonardo may be a gentleman and well educated 
 [61] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 but he can be rougher and harsher than a wire 
 brush. 
 
 Salvador. He's going wrong, Lobito; things are 
 going wrong with him. 
 
 Lobito [insinuatingly]. She's worth it, isn't she 
 Senor? 
 
 Salvadoe. Yes, yes. But one has to know how 
 to manage her. And my friend takes this life too 
 much to heart. 
 
 Lobito. Pichichi, the office boy, told me that 
 the woman is a book that you know by heart. 
 
 Salvador. Well, you tell Pichichi from me to 
 close his little mouth! 
 
 Lobito. Here comes Don Leonardo. 
 
 Salvador. I see where I shall have to heap 
 coals of fire on his head. 
 
 [Enter Leonardo through the gateway which 
 opens on the yard. He comes from the 
 street.] 
 
 Leonardo. Hello, traveler! 
 
 Salvador. Hello! 
 
 Leonardo. Did you have a good sleep? 
 
 Salvador. Yes, and even better than that. 
 
 Lobito. Do you wish anything more, Sefior? 
 
 Salvador. No, you may go on with your work. 
 [62] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 LoBiTO. I'm going to see about the wheel. 
 
 [Exit into the shop. 
 Salvador. Where is your sister? 
 Leonabdo [pointing to the house]. She is here. I 
 left early this morning without seeing her. I often 
 get up early these days. 
 Salvador. You do, eh? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, I like to see the sim rise from 
 behind the castle. Have you never seen it? 
 
 Salvador [mischievously]. The sun rise from 
 behind the castle? Yes, indeed, sir, before you ever 
 did. 
 Leonardo. What? 
 
 [Enter a workman from the shops.] 
 Workman. Don Salvador, the modeller wishes 
 to ask you a question. 
 Salvador. I'll be there in a minute. 
 Leonardo. What is it he wants? 
 Salvador. Nothing much. I told him to give 
 a little more spirit to the model of that grating. 
 Leonardo. Oh! 
 
 [^Exit the workman into the yard. He reappears 
 
 in a moment and goes into the shops carrying 
 
 a cross bar. Juanbla enters from the house; 
 
 Salvador stops a moment to greet her. She 
 
 [63] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 justifies the reflection which Tehesona has 
 already made.] 
 
 Salvador. Good morning. 
 
 JijANELA. Good morning. Hello, Leonardo! I 
 saw you from my balcony as you came in. 
 
 Leonardo. Ah, you did? 
 
 JuANELA. You surely are an early riser. How 
 early you go out! 
 
 Salvador [artfully]. Night comes on so quickly 
 in these small places! Eh, Leonardo? 
 
 Leonardo [startled]. Yes ... of course. 
 
 Salvador. I'U see you later. 
 
 JuANELA. Good-bye. 
 
 Salvador. If this chap speaks ill of me, don't 
 believe him. 
 
 [Exit into the shop. 
 
 JuANELA. Rest assured! Yoiu* friend seems to 
 be a great joker. [Leonardo is very much pre- 
 occupied. Juanela watches him for some moments 
 in silence.] What are you thinking about? 
 
 Leonardo. Eh? 
 
 Juanela. What are you thinking about? Are 
 you here, or somewhere else? 
 
 Leonardo. I am here, only I was a bit absent- 
 minded. What do you want? 
 [64] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 JuANELA. Nothing. Only try to realize you are 
 here, and that I am, too! 
 
 Leonardo. Very well, I'll try. 
 
 JuANELA. I'm going out now to take a walk 
 about the town with Teresona. May I? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. With Teresona, yes. Teresona 
 is a fine woman. She was the caretaker of this house 
 before we took it, and I have kept her in my service. 
 
 Juanela. She seems to think a lot of you. 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. 
 
 Juanela. What is the matter with you, Leon- 
 ardo? Something is wrong. I noticed it last night. 
 
 Leonardo. No, there isn't, silly! What could 
 be the matter? The trouble is you have forgotten 
 my ways because you haven't lived with me for a 
 long time. Run along and take your walk with 
 Teresona. You will like the place, I'm sure. 
 
 Juanela. I loved the part I saw yesterday. 
 How bright it is! And the houses are so white that 
 they hurt one's eyes when the sun strikes them. Do 
 you remember how we used to dream of this An- 
 dalusian country away off there on our farm? I 
 used to think of it as a land that I should never see — 
 a story land. 
 
 Leonardo [absently]. And here you are in it. 
 [65] 
 
Ad II MALVALOCA * 
 
 JuANELA. I am, yes. But I insist that you are 
 at least in Asturias! 
 
 Leonardo. No, little one, no. 
 
 JuANELA. Come! I'm not so simple as all that. 
 Is what they tell me about you true? 
 
 Leonardo [quickly]. What did they tell you? 
 
 JuANELA. It's true! 
 
 Leonardo. What is? 
 
 JiTANELA. That you have a sweetheart! 
 
 Leonardo. A sweetheart? Who told you that? 
 
 JuANELA. A neighbor who saw me waiting for 
 you yesterday on the balcony; she started a con- 
 versation with me. The people in this place are 
 very confidential. Whatever comes into their heads 
 pops out again. They think aloud. Don't you 
 agree with me? 
 
 Leonardo. There is something in what you say. 
 It all comes from an exaggerated gift of imagination. 
 They are often mistaken in what they say here. 
 
 Jxjanela. And are they mistaken this time? 
 
 Leonardo [after gazing at her]. Woidd you feel 
 badly if they were not? 
 
 JuANELA. On the contrary, I want you to marry, 
 so you will stop roaming about the world, and so 
 I can come to live with you. 
 [66] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Leonardo. Aren't you happy with Aunt and 
 Uncle? 
 
 JuANELA. Yes. They take very good care of 
 me. But that is different. It isn't my own home, 
 as yours would be — as father's used to be. 
 
 Leonardo [with a sigh]. I know. Last night 
 you told me that you went to see him before coming 
 here. 
 
 JuANELA. I did. Instead of cheering me up, 
 the visit saddened me. He isn't happy. 
 
 Leonardo. He couldn't be. 
 
 JuANELA. What a shame that it should always 
 be a woman who destroys the home! 
 
 [The two are silent. Enter Teresona, wearing 
 \a different shawl.] 
 
 Teresona. Shall we go, child? 
 
 Jttanela. Ah, Teresona! Yes, let's go. 
 
 Teresona. Very well, come along; I can't leave 
 the kitchen for long. 
 
 Jxtanela. Come on. 
 
 Teresona. I'm going to take you to the Iglesia 
 Mayor first. Then to the mill so you can see the 
 fields from the tower, . 
 
 Leonardo. Good. 
 
 Jttanela. I'll see you afterward, brother. 
 167] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonabdo. Good-bye. 
 
 Teeesona [mischiev(msly to Leonardo as Juanela 
 enters the house. She refers to her shawl]. It is 
 yours. Do you recognize it? 
 
 Leonabdo. Hush! 
 
 ^Teresona. Don't be afraid. I never let my 
 tongue get me into trouble. Good-bye. 
 
 [Exit after Jttanela. 
 
 Leonardo [reproaching himself bitterly]. Bah! 
 Always a coward. What is it? What is the matter 
 with me? I hardly recognize myself. 
 
 [Salvador enters from the shops in time to 
 see and hear him.] 
 
 Salvador. It seems to me that it is a little soon 
 to begin talking to yourself. 
 
 Leonardo. What? 
 
 Salvador. It is only a step from that to throwing 
 stones about the streets in a pet. 
 
 Leonardo. You are always in such good humor! 
 
 Salvador. And aren't you? Aren't you good- 
 humored to-day? 
 
 Leonardo. I scarcely ever am. You know that. 
 And not at all to-day, especially since a moment 
 ago. 
 
 Salvador. Well, then, what is the matter? 
 [68] 
 
MALVALOCA Act H 
 
 Leonabdo. Oh, something. 
 
 Salvador. Something to do with her. Am I 
 right? 
 
 Leonaedo. Eh? 
 
 Salvador. Love is apt to be nonsensical like 
 that; at best it will come on to rain when the sun 
 is shining. But the shower soon passes away. 
 
 Leonardo. What do you imagine my trouble is? 
 
 Salvador. It's not a case oi imagination. I 
 know that the little beast which you think you have 
 inside of you is being tamed to the music of a skirt 
 which is none too worthy. 
 
 Leonardo. What a queer way you have of put- 
 ting things! Where did you learn all this? 
 
 Salvador. From you yourself. 
 
 Leonardo. From me? 
 
 Salvador. From you. 
 
 Leonardo. Since when? 
 
 Salvador. Since the day when Malvaloca came 
 to Las Canteras. In your first conversation with 
 her you fell like a raw recruit. Come, deny it. 
 
 Leonardo. If you call it falling. 
 
 Salvador. You see? I only had to hear you 
 first, and then, afterward, to see you with her. 
 After that you didn't come to the Home to see me, 
 [69] 
 
Aa II MALVALOCA 
 
 but to meet Malvaloca. And since I know you, 
 and also know her, I had a feeling inside that you 
 wouldn't last as long as tin does in fire. 
 
 Leonardo. That's the way it was. I confess 
 it to you, you are a loyal friend. I have never seen 
 a woman who has captivated and interested me so 
 much. 
 
 Salvador. Yes, yes. She carries with her a 
 bloom of conviviality. 
 
 Leonardo. Conviviality isn't adequate to de- 
 scribe the attraction she exercises. She hasn't a 
 word or a movement that doesn't get one deeper in 
 love. She fascinates me. I don't know whether 
 or not it is the contrast between her position and 
 mine, but she fascinates me. 
 
 Salvador. She has wit. 
 
 Leonardo. Something more than wit. There 
 is light in her lips, in her face, in her hands, in her 
 hair 
 
 Salvador. That may be brilliantine. 
 
 Leonardo. Can it be that you make a joke of 
 it? 
 
 Salvador. Don't you see I can? 
 
 Leonardo. Is what I am saying so ridiculous? 
 
 Salvador. Nonsense! My joke was merely 
 [70] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 caused by envy at seeing you so much in love. I'd 
 like to fall in love like that, only I never get the 
 chance, or hardly ever. 
 
 Leonardo. Never. But no matter. Perhaps 
 you live more peacefully for it. More happily, I 
 won't say. Malvaloca has come into my heart 
 and awakened feelings that were dormant or new 
 there. Would you believe that even to suffer when 
 I am with her is a great joy to me? I suffer and 
 weep, just as I laugh and enjoy myself. I live — 
 live — and to live for a woman is something. 
 
 Salvador [somewhat gravely]. But, man 
 
 Leonardo. I swear to you by our friendship, 
 that Malvaloca not only fascinates me by the 
 witchery of her person, the passion of her eyes, the 
 grace of her carriage, her words 
 
 Salvador. What else? 
 
 Leonardo. All of them put together; more 
 than all, if such a thing is possible. It is the in- 
 nate goodness of her heart; her mad generosity; the 
 deep sadness of her misfortune of which her tears 
 tell me more than her words, the unlooked-for tears 
 which come into her eyes even in her happiest mo- 
 ments — all this seduces me, moves me, and makes 
 me tremble. Do you understand? 
 [71] 
 
Act, II MALVALOCA 
 
 Salvador. Yes, of course I understand. I also 
 understand that these things hold you fast. 
 
 Leonardo. What do you say? 
 
 Salvador. But it will pass over. This fire will 
 soon die out. 
 
 Leonardo [as though asking himself]. Will it 
 pass over.? 
 
 Salvador. Of course it wiU! You're fascinated 
 now, I know. I know, too, about the affair in 
 La Resolana's house, the number of times you go 
 there, how enchanted you are to see the sun rise 
 from behind the castle 
 
 Leonardo [laughing]. What a rascal you are! 
 
 Salvador. How she visits the foundry 
 
 Leonardo. No! 
 
 Salvador. Yes! 
 
 Leonardo. She has been here only a few times. 
 I swear it. 
 
 Salvador. No, sir! She comes every day. A 
 few times, indeed! 
 
 Leonardo. I always have to laugh when I am 
 with you. She's due here for a little visit soon! 
 
 Salvador. What? She's coming here soon? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. She hasn't been here to-day. 
 
 Salvador. Is she coming soon, Leonardo? 
 [72] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad II 
 
 Leonardo. Well, why are you surprised? 
 
 Salvador. You're crazier than I thought you 
 were! 
 
 Leonardo. Eh? 
 
 Salvador. What about your sister? 
 
 Leonardo [disturbed]. My sister — ^that's right — 
 you think it is wrong while my sister is here 
 
 Salvador. Of course. 
 
 Leonardo. Well, I'm not so crazy as you think. 
 The very same idea occurred to me before it did to 
 you. I went to tell her not to come yesterday, but 
 it wasn't necessary, for she anticipated me by saying 
 that she wasn't going out. 
 
 Salvador. And to-day? 
 
 Leonardo. I went the same as yesterday. 
 
 Salvador. And didn't you tell her to-day, 
 either? 
 
 Leonardo. No. 
 
 Salvador. Why not? 
 
 Leonardo. Because — ^well, because it is a thing 
 that is repugnant to my feelings, and I couldn't 
 say it. 
 
 Salvador. You do wrong, Leonardo. 
 
 Leonardo. Well, then, I shall do wrong, but I 
 shall comply with the dictates of my conscience. I 
 [73] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 cannot tell a good woman — one who wishes to be 
 honorable — ^to stop coming to my house. That 
 is like attempting to prevent her from being good. 
 
 Salvador. But, let's see. Don't get excited. 
 Does Malvaloca know that your sister is here? 
 
 Leonardo. I think not. 
 
 Salvador. Well, without your attempting to 
 prevent her, as soon as she finds your sister is here, 
 she won't come. 
 
 Leonardo. She won't? 
 
 Salvador. She knows her ground, and has more 
 common sense than you have. 
 
 Leonardo. She must understand resignation 
 then. 
 
 Salvador. Put it any way you wish. You are 
 not the only one responsible for Malvaloca's life. 
 
 Leonardo. What egotism is this, Salvador? 
 
 Salvador. The egotism of living on earth and 
 not on the moon! 
 
 Leonardo. The egotism of But it is best 
 
 not to talk about this particular thing. We could 
 talk untU we were tired and you would probably 
 never learn to understand me. There are some 
 things which never enter the intelligence without 
 first passing through the heart. 
 [74] 
 
MALVALOCA Act U 
 
 Salvador. As you like. What shall we talk 
 about? I know very well that when a man is in your 
 heated condition, he will only pay attention to him- 
 self. 
 
 [Enter Tio Jeromo from the shops. He goes 
 toward the yard gate. He still wears his 
 working clothes, after the fashion of Lobito, 
 and carries a small mallet hung from his belt, 
 a saw in his left hand, and a chisel in his 
 right. He greets Leonardo as he passes.} 
 Tio Jeromo. Good morning, Don Leonardo. 
 Leonardo. Good morning, Jeromo. 
 Tio Jeromo. Congratulations on Don Salvador's 
 return. 
 
 "^ Leonardo. Thanks. 
 Tio Jeromo. We're working hard. [Exit. 
 
 Salvador. We can at least talk about this 
 invaluable workman here. Why didn't you write 
 me something about this acquisition.'' 
 
 Leonardo. I beg your pardon. It was forget- 
 fulness or carelessness. It wasn't important, and 
 I didn't think it was necessary. 
 
 Salvador. And it wasn't. The necessary and 
 important thing to do, is to turn him into the street. 
 Leonardo. Malvaloca's uncle? 
 [75] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Salvadoh. Correct — ^Don Jeromo. 
 
 Leonardo. He has attended to his duty so far. 
 
 Salvador. He? Why, he's never done a stroke 
 of work in his life! Moreover, he is a consummate 
 rascal with bad blood in his veins. He's a danger to 
 the business. I've already noticed a pack of cards 
 in the shops, and the wine bottle won't be long in 
 coming. 
 
 Leonardo. Do you think he brought the cards? 
 
 Salvador. I'm siu-e of it. He's taken good 
 money from four unfortunates already. What is 
 more, the tools and shovels which are missing were 
 carried oflF by him. 
 
 Leonardo. Oh, no, that can't be true! We 
 must try to reform him. 
 
 Salvador. What we ought to do is to pay him 
 with a good kick and throw him Into the street. 
 For if you are kind to him and let him stay, besides 
 the trouble he is giving, you are going to have the 
 whole tribe, his family and their friends to bother 
 you. Malvaloca's small brother, her mother, her 
 father, her godfather and her godmother, her aunt 
 and her uncle — oh, I know them! 
 
 Leonardo. This must be stopped. 
 
 Salvador. I'm afraid it won't be. 
 [76] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Leonabdo. Yes, it shall. After all, he is only 
 a workman who may cause trouble, and whom we 
 can discharge this very day. Or do you think I 
 am so weak that for a satisfaction foreign to our 
 interests I could overlook something that may be a 
 disadvantage to us and demoralizing to our busi- 
 ness? Well, if you do, you are mistaken. We'll 
 discharge the man to-day. 
 
 Salvadoh. That's not quite necessary. 
 
 Leonabdo. Indeed it is, Salvador. [He sees 
 Tio Jebomo approaching. He comes from the yard; 
 the tools in the same position as before.] To-day is 
 too late. We'll do it this very minute. 
 
 Salvador. You are certainly in a hurry about it! 
 
 Leonardo. I'm always in a hurry to do my duty. 
 Listen, Jeromo. We were just talking about you. 
 
 Tio Jehomo. About me? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Good or bad? 
 
 Salvador. Don Leonardo spoke well of you, but 
 I very much to the contrary. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Oh, ho! [Leonardo goes to his 
 
 table and turns over the leaves of the day book. Tio 
 
 Jebomo scents trouble, and starts to flatter in order to 
 
 disarm his enemy.] Good! I'm like the boys in 
 
 [77] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 the shops who belong to this parish: I'm thinking 
 about the casting of La Golondrina. What an 
 event, Don Salvador, what an event to write about 
 in the History of Spain! 
 
 Leonardo. You are right. 
 
 Tio Jebomo. What is he talking about? 
 
 Salvador. He's forecasting another event which 
 is about to take place this minute. 
 
 Leonardo. From this moment you may con- 
 sider yourself discharged from the foundry. 
 
 [Tio Jeromo's gesture of stupefaction at hear- 
 ing Leonardo say these words is indescrib- 
 able. He looks silently from one to the other, 
 and at last breaks out in these words.] 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Do you know I have no words 
 
 Leonardo. You don't need any. I have said 
 all that is necessary. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. I couldn't be deader if a thimder- 
 bolt had struck at my feet! Somebody has been 
 lying about me. [Arrogantly.] What Ues have they 
 made up? 
 
 Leonardo. All explanation is superfluous. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Don Leonardo, it would be so 
 with a cricket, and yet you listen to him — and he 
 costs only ten cents. 
 
 [78] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Salvador. And you're not worth even ten cents ! 
 
 Leonabdo. You may go. 
 
 Tio Jeeomo. That's it. Kick an honest work- 
 man into the street like a dog ! Then they talk about 
 strikes. 
 
 Salvador. You struck the day you were born. 
 
 Tio Jeeomo [pathetically], Salvador, Salvador, I 
 didn't expect this from you. 
 
 Leonardo. What do you mean? 
 
 Tio Jeromo. See if she isn't sorry. 
 
 Leonardo [troubled]. Eh? 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Don Leonardo, at least for her 
 sake, for she loves me more than she does her own 
 father! • 
 
 Leonardo. Silence! It's useless to persist. 
 
 Salvador. Do we owe him anything? 
 
 Leonardo. On the contrary. Two days ago I 
 anticipated five days' pay for him. But we are 
 even now. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. No, we're not. I certainly thank 
 you very much. [Behind his hand.] Ciu:se that 
 woman ! [ To Salvador in a burst of anger.] You've 
 seen the time when this wouldn't have happened! 
 
 Salvador. You'd better keep quiet. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. You loved her more than he does. 
 [79] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonardo [violently grasping a hammer which lies 
 on his desk]. Get out of my sight this minute, or 
 I'll knock your head in! 
 
 Tio Jekomo. Very well, sir, very well. I'm on my 
 way. [Starts to drop the tools ill humoredly in a corner.] 
 
 Leonardo. Was that what you wanted done? 
 
 Salvador. You can see for yourself. 
 
 Leonardo. Well, it's done. 
 
 [Exit into his house. 
 
 Tio Jeromo. There, from what I've heard, it 
 was you who got this man to leave me breadless. 
 
 Salvador. Leave the place! 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Well, hunger is an evil master. 
 
 Salvador. Leave, I»tell you! 
 
 Tio Jeromo. You'll hear from me again — ^you 
 and that panoli I And Malvaloca! That little girl 
 won't be long in hearing about it. 
 
 Salvador. Into the street with you! 
 
 Tio Jeromo. I still have' a mallet in my hand. 
 
 Salvador. You've got to have more than that. 
 You've got to have the courage to use it. What an 
 empty boast! [Tio Jeromo throws the mallet angrily 
 to the ground. He gnaws his fist and goes angrily 
 into the shops.] 
 
 Tio Jeromo. Damn that girl! 
 [80] 
 
MALVALOCA Act 11 
 
 Salvador. At last we're rid of him. The scene 
 was inevitable. [Calling:] iLobito! Lobito! Sooner 
 or later it was bound to come. [To Lobito, who ap- 
 pears at the shop door.] Listen, Lobito, don't take 
 your eye ofiF Tio Jeromo until he leaves. 
 
 Lobito. I understand, Senor. 
 
 Salvador. He's capable of any nonsense. 
 
 Lobito. We've had a good laugh in there. We 
 heard the whole fight. 
 
 Salvador. Come, come! Go in and watch him. 
 
 Lobito. Never you fear, Senor. [Exit. 
 
 Salvador [going to the house]. We'll calm the 
 partner a bit. 
 
 [At this instant Malvaloca appears at the 
 yard gate. She wears a shawl, dressing 
 simply, very modest earrings being her only 
 jewelry.] 
 
 Malvaloca. Who goes there? 
 
 Salvador. Eh? Malvaloca! 
 
 Malvaloca. Hello, my man! You here? When 
 did you come? 
 
 Salvador. Last night. 
 
 Malvaloca. After you left home, you went to 
 Malaga to see your lady friends, didn't you? 
 
 Salvador. Right you are. 
 [81] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. Did you bring me any raisins? 
 
 Salvadoh. To refresH your memory? 
 
 Malvaloca. To put in brandy! 
 
 Salvador. I didn't know that you were here. 
 
 Malvaloca. Carambo! 
 
 Salvador. I thought you were in Seville. 
 
 Malvaloca. And I thought you were in Rome, 
 kissing the Pope's sHpper! 
 
 Salvador. Well, I left Las Canteras, and have 
 returned. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, I haven't returned, nor have 
 I gone, nor am I going. 
 
 Salvador. You like the village so much, then? 
 
 Malvaloca. I've settled down. 
 
 Salvador. With a view of the fields or of the 
 river? 
 
 Malvaloca. With a view of the clock on the 
 Town Hall. 
 
 Salvador. Times have changed, little girl. 
 
 Malvaloca. Always for the better. Where's 
 our friend? Has he hidden himself? 
 
 Salvador. You'll find him upstairs working at 
 figures for you. 
 
 Malvaloca. And he is in earnest. I do the 
 same for him. 
 
 [82] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Salvador. Leave your figures. 
 
 Malvaloca. I'll leave nothing. I'd rather leave 
 the sunlight. 
 
 Salvador. We're as far along as that, are we? 
 
 Malvaloca. Uh! You don't know anything 
 about it. We are a pair of lovers such as you see in 
 pictures. 
 
 Salvador. Like those in Teruel? 
 
 Malvaloca. It's deadly cold in Teruel. 
 
 Salvador. Is the fever so high, then? 
 
 Malvaloca. Ninety-eight andafraction. Where 
 did you say he was? 
 
 Salvador. He is probably with his sister. 
 
 Malvaloca [surprised]. Has his sister come? 
 
 Salvador. She came yesterday. 
 
 Malvaloca. Then I'm o£P. Don't you think 
 that I ought to go? 
 
 Salvador. I do indeed. 
 
 Malvaloca. So do I. Whatever you call it, a 
 spade is a spade. Why didn't Leonardo tell me? 
 
 Salvador. Because Leonardo thought it better 
 not. 
 
 Malvaloca. Don't joke. He is more romantic 
 than you are, more romantic. Uh! He sees and 
 then embroiders everything he sees with stars. 
 [83] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Salvadok. Romantic things seem to agree with 
 you. You are much prettier than you were, and 
 you have a beautiful color. 
 
 Malvaloca. The quiet life I lead, my son; it 
 works wonders. 
 
 Salvador. Those earrings aren't hke the ones 
 you wore in my time. 
 
 Malvaloca. Nor in anybody else's time. They 
 were an idea of his. He's even got me to let him 
 give me my hairpins. Even that! And I have 
 had to say good-bye to all my jewelry for a while. 
 
 Salvador. How about my watch? 
 
 Malvaloca. He's given the hands a bad cramp. 
 Why, if I even mention your name he turns green! 
 You cause him more trouble than any one else. 
 
 Salvador [with a gesture and accent of disgust]. 
 Enough! 
 " Malvaloca. He's mad about me. 
 
 Salvador. So I see. 
 
 Malvaloca. As no one in the world ever was 
 before. 
 
 Salvador. You don't mean me? 
 
 Malvaloca. Be sensible! Can you compare 
 raw canvas to silk? He loves me more than any- 
 body else does, and in a different way. 
 [84] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Salvador. Differently than I did? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, differently than you. 
 
 Salvador. And what is the difference? 
 
 Malvaloca. Why, even in the way he takes my 
 hand! The way he breathes when he sees me! 
 He treats me as if I were somebody— not just a mere 
 woman. Let's see if I can explain what I mean. 
 Supposing you had been the first man who had made 
 love to me when I was a girl — good as you are — ^I 
 would have been what I am to-day. But if he had 
 been the first, I should have been different altogether. 
 Then I shouldn't have had to run away because his 
 sister was here. Do you understand? 
 
 Salvador. Yes. 
 
 Malvaloca. And do I exaggerate? 
 
 Salvador. No. 
 
 Malvaloca. Don't be hurt, Salvador. I have 
 very much to be thankful to you for, but that has 
 nothing to do with this new kind of love which 
 Malvaloca had never a taste of till now. You are 
 good because you aren't bad. He is good because 
 he is good. To make it clear to you: you are good 
 in the morning, and he is good all day. That is 
 something like what I mean. 
 
 Salvador. He is good. 
 
 r85i 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. Better than a stage priest. You 
 know that when I dream I always see him with 
 white hair and a staff, marrying everybody! 
 
 Salvador. Ha! Ha! 
 
 Malvaloca. And so I am going away without 
 seeing him, since I don't want his sister to find me 
 here. 
 
 Salvador. Shall I tell him you came around.'' 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, tell him. No, don't tell 
 him! 
 
 Salvador. Just as you say. 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, you can tell him. Why must 
 we be so secret about it? Good-bye. 
 
 Salvador. Wait a minute, and we'll have a good 
 laugh. 
 
 Malvaloca. Over what? 
 
 Salvador. Don Jeromo. We've had to put 
 him into the street. 
 
 Malvaloca. That's natural. I'm glad of it; 
 don't you think I'm not. They've told me of two 
 or three of his doings in the shops, and I've been 
 sorry that I ever asked Leonardo to take him on. 
 Dear me, what a family ours is! 
 
 [Tio Jeromo enters from the shops. He starts 
 toward the inhospitable street, peevish and 
 [86] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 morose. He is dressed as he was when we 
 first saw him.] 
 Tio Jeromo. Into the street — to die if I must 
 on some doorstep — ^but with my head in the clouds! 
 Salvador. God be with you! 
 Malvaloca. Good luck! 
 
 [Tio Jekomo looks at them disdainfully, and 
 goes out through the gate. Malvaloca and 
 Salvador lavx/h outright.] 
 Salvador. What a rascal! 
 Malvaloca. What pleases me is the way he went 
 off! 
 
 [They keep on laughing. Leonardo, as he 
 reenters, surprises them at it. His manner 
 leaves no doubt that he is displeased.] 
 Leonardo. Hello! 
 
 Malvaloca. We were just laughing at Tio 
 Jeromo, who went out into the street with a face like 
 a villain. 
 
 Leonardo [apologetically]. There was no other 
 way but to discharge him. 
 
 Malvaloca. And I'm the first one to be glad 
 of it. But look out; he's got a revengeful disposi- 
 tion. He is very bad, and is capable of thinking up 
 anything. 
 
 [87] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonardo. I don't know what he can " think up." 
 
 Malvaloca. Now don't you go and knock his 
 brains out on the strength of what I'm saying. I 
 only wanted to warn you. Isn't he revengeful, Salva- 
 dor? 
 
 Salvador. Yes, but who pays any attention 
 to him? I must go in to see if we are ready to cast 
 soon. [Exit into the shops. 
 
 Malvaloca. What's the matter with you, Leon- 
 ardo? 
 
 Leonardo. Nothing. 
 
 Malvaloca. Don't say "nothing" that way. 
 Why, the circles under your eyes reach down to 
 your neck! I have been studying you like astrono- 
 mers study the clouds. When dogs eat grass, it's 
 a sign of rain. I come; and as you don't greet me 
 with a smile, I know we're going to have a storm. 
 
 Leonardo. No. 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. Are you angry because I 
 was laughing with Salvador? It was all about Tio 
 Jeromo. 
 
 Leonardo. Don't be a child. How could a 
 thing like that make me angry? You will soon find 
 out what the trouble is. I have some bad news for 
 you. 
 
 [88] 
 
MALVALOCA Act 11 
 
 Malvaloca. Aha! The dogs are eating grass! 
 Signs don't lie. Are you laughing? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. Listen. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, out with it; you frighten 
 me. 
 
 Leonakdo. My sister is here, 
 
 Malvaloca. I know it. He told me. 
 
 Leonardo. Ah! So ^ told you? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. Is that all? Well, don't get 
 excited or feel badly about it, for I won't put my 
 foot inside your house while your sister is here. 
 
 Leonardo. Why not? 
 
 Malvaloca. Because I should sprain my ankle 
 going through the door ! But joking aside, Leonardo, 
 it wouldn't be right for me to come. 
 
 Leonardo. Did — he — ^also — tell you that? 
 
 Malvaloca. No, I told him. What Salvador 
 said was that you thought it was all right for me to 
 come. 
 
 Leonardo. Ah, really? That was true, under- 
 stand. But later I thought better of it. I must 
 not act foolishly. I am very grateful to you for 
 your resolve, Malvaloca. Do not come; I shall 
 go to you. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well your martyrdom is over. 
 [89] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 Put on a happier expression. I hate to see you look 
 sad. 
 
 Leonardo. Why shouldn't I look sad? Loving 
 you as I do, I have to keep you hidden Uke a — shame- 
 less woman. 
 
 Malvaloca. Come, come! 
 
 The birds take flight when the rain comes down; 
 Periquiyo's wet from heel to crown. 
 
 I'm Periquiyo. But it's unhealthy to look beneath 
 the surface, to remove the soil. 
 
 Leonardo [sadly]. It depends upon the soil! 
 
 Malvaloca [bitterly]. That's why I said it. If 
 you only knew what kind of soil I am, in what kind 
 of earth you have sown! 
 
 Leonardo. Forgive me. I'd hke to choke down 
 that thought when I am with you, but when I am 
 at your side I seem to lose all my power of wUl. 
 [They look at each other.] 
 
 Malvaloca [resolutely]. Good-bye, I'm going. 
 
 Leonardo. Why? 
 
 Malvaloca. Your sister may come. 
 
 Leonardo. Don't be afraid; she isn't here. Tere- 
 sona took her to see some of the sights of the village. 
 
 Malvaloca. Then 
 
 [90] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Leonabdo. What? 
 
 Malvaloca. Are you going to cast La Golon- 
 drina? 
 
 Leonardo. In a little while, yes. 
 
 Malvaloca. Would there be time for me to see 
 it? 
 '^ Leonardo. For you to see it? I'll tell you ] 
 
 Malvaloca. No, don't tell me anything. Even 
 if there were time, I shouldn't wait to see it. You 
 don't like to have me go into the shops. 
 
 Leonardo. Aside from that, the bell will be 
 cast like all the rest — Uke all those other things you 
 have seen us cast. The mould is already in the 
 ground 
 
 Malvaloca. And it's just the same shape as the 
 broken bell. I've seen that at least. 
 
 Leonardo. You would have been more inter- 
 ested in seeing how we broke up the old bell. 
 
 Malvaloca. True enough. Why didn't you 
 let me know? 
 
 Leonardo. I didn't think of it. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, then, tell me how it was done. 
 
 Leonardo. Simply by heating it slowly over a 
 furnace, and by a blow of a mallet. 
 
 Malvaloca. And it fell to pieces? 
 [91] 
 
Ad U MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonaedo. Yes. 
 
 Malvaloca. As if it were made of glass! 
 
 Leonardo. Exactly. 
 
 Malvaloca. And now the pieces are being 
 melted in the crucibles? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. 
 
 Malvaloca. And pretty soon the crucibles will 
 be emptied into the ground through the funnel? 
 
 Leonardo. Right you are. You know as much 
 as I do about it. 
 
 Malvaloca. So, it will be the same bell? 
 
 Leonardo. The same, and yet another. 
 
 Malvaloca. I remember you explained all this 
 very well the first day we met. I was very much 
 interested in what you told me. 
 
 Leonardo. You have a good memory. 
 
 Malvaloca. Yours is better, poor boy! 
 
 Leonardo. Mine? Why? 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh, nothing! 
 
 Leonardo. No, you meant something when you 
 said that. 
 
 Malvaloca. Why shouldn't 1, silly? Because I 
 never tell you a thing about myself that doesn't stay 
 in your head as though it were cast in bronze! 
 
 Leonardo. Ah! That's true. 
 [92] 
 
MALVALOCA Act U 
 
 Malvaloca. But come here, you bad boy. 
 Are you sorry you met me? 
 
 Leonardo. Never! 
 
 MalvaIjOCA. Do you — ^love me? 
 
 Leonardo. How can you ask? 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, then, what does it matter 
 what I have been? 
 
 Leonardo. It matters, it matters so much to 
 me that I am only happy when I forget it. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, Usten; I've thought of a 
 solution. 
 
 Leonardo. If there only were one! 
 
 Malvaloca. Recast me — ^like La Golondrina! 
 
 Leonardo [perplexed]. Like — ^La Golondrina? 
 
 Malvaloca. There is a Uttle song that speaks of 
 it: 
 
 "This Uttle girl of whom I tell. 
 Should be recast, like a broken bell." 
 
 Have you heard it? 
 
 Leonardo. Never until this moment. 
 
 Malvaloca. You might know that it was thought 
 of by a man like you are . . . one of those men 
 who make up all the good there is in the world. In 
 [93] 
 
Ad II MALVALOCA 
 
 the song he fell in love with a woman who wanted 
 to have the right to a better life; so he wrote these 
 verses. 
 
 Leonardo. How does it go? 
 
 Malvaloca [repeats it with full meaning]. 
 
 "This little girl of whom I tell, 
 Should be recast, like a broken bell." 
 
 Leonardo [drawing her passionately to him\. 
 Come! 
 Malvaloca. What do you mean? 
 Leonardo. Look at me. 
 Malvaloca. I can't see you for my tears. 
 Leonardo. Nor I you. 
 
 Malvaloca. Let me go. [Separates herself from 
 him.] I must go! Good-bye! 
 Leonardo. Good-bye. 
 
 [When Malvaloca starts to open the gate up- 
 stage as she turns to go. Sister Piedad and 
 Mariquita enter. Mariqttita is dressed 
 in her very best. Their appearance surprises 
 the two lovers equxdly. Malvaloca is 
 phased.] 
 Sister Piedad. Good morning. 
 [94] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad U 
 
 Malvaloca. Leonardo, see who has come to see 
 you. 
 
 Mariquita. Good morning. 
 
 Leonardo. Come in, Sister. 
 
 Mahiquita. You here, lady? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, but I'm going now. 
 
 Mariquita. Going? Don't go. You'll see why 
 I have come. Don't go. 
 
 Leonardo {replying to a glance from Malvaloca]. 
 Please stay. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Mariquita has an idea which 
 has cost her a sleepless night. 
 
 Mariquita. I didn't sleep all night because I 
 thought of it when I went to bed, and I was afraid 
 I might forget it. \Wiih a tired air^ Ah me! 
 
 Malvaloca. Sit down here, Mariquita. 
 
 Mariquita. Thanks very much, my dear child. 
 
 Leonardo. And won't you be seated also. 
 Sister? 
 
 Sister Piedad. Thank you, it is not necessary. 
 My visit will be a very short one. La Golondrina 
 is to be recast to-day, is she not? 
 
 Leonardo. To-day, and very shortly. 
 
 Sister Piedad. We shall go and pray that God 
 may watch over the good work. Now I see that the 
 [95] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 wish of our Mother Superior will be easy to carry 
 out. 
 
 Leonabdo. What is her wish? 
 
 Sister Piedad. That the bell may sound again 
 for the first time on the day of the procession of 
 Our Lord of the Crown of Thorns, which starts 
 from the Carmen Home, and is very much venerated 
 in the vicinity. It is a hoUday in Las Canteras. The 
 windows, balconies, and doorways are all decorated, 
 the street through which the Image passes is car- 
 peted entirely with branches and flowers, and the 
 young girls put on new dresses made especially for 
 the day. Oh, you shall see, you shall see! 
 
 Leonardo. And when is it? 
 
 Sister Piedad. The fourteenth of next month. 
 
 Leonakdo. We have more than time enough. 
 
 Sister Piedad. So much the better. The 
 Mother Superior will be pleased. 
 
 Malvaloca. Tell me. Sister, may I walk behind 
 the procession barefoot? 
 
 Sister Piedad. Why shouldn't you? 
 
 Leonabdo. Barefoot! 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, it's a vow. 
 
 Leonardo. When did you make it? 
 
 Malvaloca. Just now. 
 [96] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Sister Piedad [with a kindly smile]. You can 
 think about it from now until then. 
 
 Malvaloca. You ask why I should do it? Are 
 you surprised? It isn't the first time I have walked 
 behind a procession in that way. When my baby 
 girl was sick — but that doesn't concern anybody 
 here. What is it that Mariquita has on her mind? 
 
 Sister Piedad. She will tell you. 
 
 Mariquita [gets up], I brought this. [She 
 takes a small bundle of cloth from her bosom, and shows 
 it to them.] 
 
 Leonardo. What is it? 
 
 Mariquita. The crosses and medals which be- 
 longed to my son who was killed in the wars. 
 
 Leonardo. And why do you bring them here? 
 
 Mariquita. Well, you see the one wish that he 
 had after they took him away was to listen to La 
 Golondrina again with his mother — ^so I wanted 
 them to be mixed with the metal of the bell. Can 
 it be done? 
 
 Leonardo. Indeed it can. All we have to do is 
 to throw them into the crucible. 
 
 Malvaloca. And that will be done this very 
 minute, and by me! 
 
 Mariquita, By you? 
 
 [97] 
 
Act II MALVALOCA 
 
 MjVLVALOCa. Yes. Kiss them for the last time. 
 
 Maeiquita [after kissing the medals]. Take 
 them, my child, take them. 
 
 Malvaloca. Bring them here, and come watch 
 me do it! Did you hear, Leonardo? It takes a 
 mother to have an idea like that. 
 
 Leonabdo. Yes. But hurry. 
 
 Makiqtjita. Then come, my child, come! [Thus 
 encouraged, Malvaloca enters the shops with Mari- 
 QTJITA, gazing at the medals and crosses as one who 
 holds in her hand a great treasure.] 
 
 Sister Piedad. This woman is certainly good. 
 She is a good woman, a good woman. 
 
 Leonardo. Do you think so? When an ir- 
 remediable misfortime befalls such a person, one 
 rebels against everything! 
 
 Sister Piedad. Against everything, brother? 
 
 Leonardo. Sister, one would have to be a saint 
 to resign one's self to it. Since I am a man, I cannot 
 do so. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Penitence has its fruit; so have 
 piety and forgiveness. 
 
 Leonardo. Love is a selfish passion. 
 
 Sister Piedad. When love is great, it is also a 
 generous one. 
 
 [98] 
 
MALVALOCA Act 11 
 
 [Malvaloca and Mariquita reenter.] 
 
 Malvaloca. It's done. They fell into the fire, 
 and it swallowed them. It seemed as though it 
 were waiting for them. 
 
 Mariquita. My poor little boy! 
 
 Sister Piedad. You have had your wish, Mari- 
 quita. 
 
 MAtaQXHTA. Is yoiu: mother still alive, Mal- 
 valoca? 
 
 Malvaloca. My mother? Let's not speak of 
 her. 
 
 Mariquita. Why not? Doesn't she love you? 
 
 Malvaloca. Let's not speak of that. Yes, my 
 mother is alive. Mariquita, she is alive; very much 
 so. But unfortumately she is not like you. I'd 
 like to look at her through the wrong end of a tel- 
 escope, as far away as I can get! 
 
 Mariquita. How funny you are! 
 
 Malvaloca. You see how I am obliged to talk 
 about my mother? Yet I've always felt sorry for 
 Adam because he had none to take him into her 
 arms! My fate is like that. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Shall we go, Mariquita? 
 
 Mariquita. Very well. May God repay you 
 for the pleasure you have given me. 
 [99] 
 
Ad n MALVALOCA 
 
 MAiiVALOCA. When La Golondrina rings again, 
 it will seem as if your son was calling you. See if it 
 doesn't. 
 
 Sister Pied ad . God be with you, Don Leonardo. 
 
 Leonardo. Good-bye, Sister. Good-bye, Mari- 
 quita. 
 
 Mariquita. Good-bye. 
 
 Sister Piedad. Good-bye. 
 
 Malvaloca. Good-bye, and God bless you. 
 [She opens the gate for them to pass out. They both 
 go out, smiling at her.] 
 
 Leonardo [wildly — his pent-up feeling suddenly 
 bursting forth into speech]. Come to me, Malvaloca, 
 come to me! I love you more and more every 
 minute! Come, you're not going to leave me now — 
 no, nor ever! 
 
 Malvaloca. Hush, crazy boy! 
 
 Leonardo. I love you for your goodness; I love 
 you for your beauty; and I love you because you 
 are unhappy! Look into my eyes, that I may gaze 
 into yours and be remade again ... by the only 
 woman I have ever loved! 
 
 Malvaloca. Me? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, you! I have never told you, 
 but it is time you found it out! 
 [ 100 ] : 
 
MALVALOCA A<A 11 
 
 Malvaloca. Leonardo! 
 
 Leonardo. You are the only one I have ever 
 loved, and you are the only one I shall ever love! 
 I don't know how to go on living except by remem- 
 bering that you are alive! Can — you — ^love me — 
 like that? 
 
 Malvaloca. I love you even more! No one 
 has ever spoken to me like you have! 
 
 \At this moment Juanela apjiears in the door- 
 way of the house. She is nervous and 
 anxious. The lovers, feeling her presence 
 rather than seeing it, instinctively separate.] 
 Leonaboo. Eh? 
 Malvaloca. What? 
 Juanela. Ah, it is she! 
 Leonabdo. Juanela! Sister! Come here! 
 
 Jttanela. No! Excuse me — I didn't know 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, you must have known. You 
 said "It is she!" What did you mean by that? 
 
 PMalvaloca is abashed and overcome. Leon- 
 ardo, growing more excited vnth each word, 
 tries to detain his sister and to win her re- 
 spect and sympathy.] 
 Juanela. Nothing. No, let me go, please. 
 Leonardo. No, I don't want you to go like 
 [1011 
 
Aa II MALVALOCA 
 
 this. Why do you tremble before this woman? 
 What have they told you? Who has been t illin g 
 you Ues? 
 
 Malvaloca. Tio Jeromo ! 
 
 JuANELA. They have told me nothing. 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, they have! And whatever 
 they told you, they lied! I alone have the right to 
 tell you who this woman is, and you must believe 
 only me. What do the others know? All they 
 will tell you is that she is bad, bad, bad! Ah, if 
 it is wicked to be sad, there never was a more wicked 
 woman in the world than she! 
 
 JuANELA. Control yom-self, Leonardo. 
 
 Leonardo. But I know her life, her soul, and 
 her sorrows! She had no one to watch over her 
 innocence as you had. But some one who was 
 blind, profaned and betrayed it I swear to you 
 by our home! Forgive me, I am so excited I have 
 lost control of my tongue. I am afraid of wounding 
 you, too. Leave me, leave me. I shall speak to 
 you more quietly later, but leave me now. 
 
 JuANELA. Yes, indeed I will leave you, brother. 
 It is better— now. [Sobbing jntifidly.] Oh, mer- 
 ciful God! [She reenters the house toithout being able 
 to take her eyes from him.] 
 
 [102] 
 
MALVALOCA Act II 
 
 Leonabdo [again becoming aware of Malvaloca's 
 presence]. They must all forgive you, and respect 
 you. That is the mad desire of my Ufe now, . , . 
 That all the world shall forget what you were! 
 
 [Salvador's voice, calling from within the 
 shops, reaches him and makes him shudder 
 suddenly.] 
 
 Salvador. Leonardo! 
 
 Leonardo. Ah, all the world — ^butme! 
 
 Salvador [appearing at a mndow]. Leonardo. 
 
 Leonardo. What is it? 
 
 Salvador. We are ready. Shall we cast La 
 Golondrina? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, of course. [To Malvaloca.] 
 Are you coming? 
 
 Malvaloca. No. I'll see you later. 
 
 Leonardo. Good-bye. [Goes into the shops vdlh 
 Salvador.] Now to recast La Golondrina! 
 
 Malvaloca [very sorrowfully, as she hursts into 
 tears] . If I were only made of bronze like the bell ! 
 
 End of Act II 
 
 [103] 
 
ACT III 
 
ACT m 
 
 A large downstairs room in Leonabdo's hoiise, having 
 white walls and a blue vaulted ceiling. Upstage is 
 a large door through which may be seen the shabby 
 old courtyard. To the right of the actor is another 
 door which leads to the inner room^. To the left, 
 a vnde grated window which opens on the street. 
 The siU is about three feet from the ground. Beneath 
 it is a huge window-seat. The window frame is 
 adorned with white lace curtains and colored cords 
 in honor of the day upon which the action takes place. 
 There are bunches of rosemary and lentiscus en- 
 tunned in the iron grating of the window. Over the 
 sill, and fastened by iron loops over the cross bars, 
 are pots filled with flowers. The floor is made of 
 tiles. There is little furniture. A -pine table near 
 the udndow awaits the flowers which are to be thrown 
 when the procession passes. 
 
 It is late morning in the month of June. 
 
 JuANELA, Tekesona, and Alponsa, dressed in 
 gala attire, are putting the finishing touches on the 
 [107] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 decorations of the window. With them are Dona 
 Enkiqtteta and Dionisia, who have gone to the 
 bottom of their trunks to deck themselves out. Al- 
 FON8A is a niece of Tebesona's. She has the 
 manners of a village maid, and has come from, her 
 home village to see the Festival of Las Carder as which 
 is to he held on this day. She is one of the kind that 
 wonders at and admires everything. Dona En- 
 RiQiTETA and Dionisia, on the other hand, seem to 
 wonder at and admire nothing. They are the wife 
 and daughter of the owner of a well-known heal sugar 
 refinery and speak with an affectation of culture 
 which, however, is rather a thin veneering. 
 
 Alfonsa [standing on a chair]. Does this bunch 
 look well, Tia Teresona? 
 
 Teresona. Very well. Get down now and 
 stop decorating the window — we've done enough. 
 JuANELA. It really is beautiful! 
 Alfonsa [stepjnng some distance away from the 
 window so as to see it better]. Oh, how pretty! How 
 pretty it is! Don't you think so? 
 
 [Dona Enriqtteta and Dionisia smile at 
 the naive enthusiasm of Alfonsa.] 
 Dionisia. What a child she is! She admires 
 everything. 
 
 [108] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Dona Enriqtjeta. We do not care for these 
 village festivals. They are too artificial. 
 
 Tehesona. Artificial? Why, I think they are 
 very natural! 
 
 JxJANELA. Don't you really like them? 
 
 DiONisiA. I do not. 
 
 Dona Enkiqtteta. Nor I. 
 
 DioNisiA. Nor does papa. 
 
 JuANELA. Perhaps it is because you are so 
 accustomed to them year after year. Being a 
 stranger, I must confess that I have never seen 
 anything more picturesque — ^more lovely than the 
 decorations in the streets where the procession is to 
 pass. 
 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Really? Why, what are you 
 telling us? 
 
 JuANELA. What I feel, the pure truth. 
 
 AiiFONSA. You ladies can't deny that there are 
 some windows that look Hke regular altars, with so 
 much white lace and so many pots of sweet basil! 
 And then, what about the streets, that seem to be 
 carpeted with green branches ? And what a delicious 
 smell comes through the windows! It's enough to 
 overpower you! 
 
 Dona Enriqtjeta. Country smells! 
 [109] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 DiONisiA. Mint and thyme. To think of our 
 liking such things! 
 
 Teresona. It is because my niece is a stranger, 
 too. 
 
 Alfonsa. I'm so glad I came from our village to 
 see this procession. Oh, dear, how beautiful these 
 streets are! 
 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Do for heaven's sake stop 
 talking about the streets. One can see all sorts of 
 ridiculous sights from these gaudy balconies. 
 
 DiONisiA. And all sorts of worthless rabble. 
 
 Teresona. In the streets.'' 
 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Yes. [Greeting some passing 
 friends from the window.] How do you do, Matilda? 
 
 DioNisiA. Hello, Elvira! 
 
 JuANELA. How do you do? Won't you come in 
 a while? Very well — I'll see you later. 
 
 Alfonsa. How nicely dressed they are! And 
 what beautiful bouquets they wear! How lovely! 
 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Overdone, my child, over- 
 done. 
 
 DiONisiA. Yes, mamma, overdone. 
 
 [LoBiTO appears in the doorway upstage. He 
 comes from the street. It is difficult to rec- 
 ognize him, as he is no longer the rough and 
 [110] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 unkempt vxyrkman of the foundry. He is 
 now a gay village gallant. He wears a 
 carnation behind his ear, and another in his 
 hat; probably to offer to some one.] 
 
 LoBiTO [before any one sees him. Aside]. Hello! 
 Now I'll have some fun; these women are too good 
 for us. [Aloud.] Good afternoon! 
 
 JuANELA. Good afternoon. 
 
 Teresona. Come in, Lobito. 
 
 Alfonsa. Hello, Inacio! 
 
 Dona Enkiqueta and Dionisia. Good after- 
 noon. 
 
 Alfonsa. You're lovely, too! 
 
 Lobito. I've got to be to-day, woman; the day 
 of the procession! The day when La Golondrina is 
 to ring again! Don't you think we ought to appear 
 in our very best? 
 
 Alfonsa. And he's wearing a chain. Auntie! 
 Did you see this? 
 
 Lobito. Of course I wear a chain. 
 
 JuANELA. And a veiy pretty one it is. 
 
 Lobito. All I need is a watch to go with it. 
 
 Alfonsa. Haven't you a watch? 
 
 Teresona. Well, you are a little mischief! 
 
 Lobito. No, I haven't any. I've fastened my 
 [111] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 matchbox to the end of the chain for a weight. 
 Then I strike myself. I've had the girls starmg 
 at me, and when they ask me as a joke what time 
 it is, I come back with another joke. [Laughs.] 
 
 Alfonsa. Oh, dear, what a way he has with 
 him! 
 
 Teresona. Lobito, is it true that there has been 
 fighting in the Alameda? 
 
 Lobito. Yes. And there will be some more 
 between now and when the bell rings! La Sonora's 
 friends thought that she was always to be the only 
 bell, and more than one obstinate fool is Ukely to 
 have the coiu*age knocked out of him. 
 
 Dona Enkiqueta. What a set of barbarians 
 they are! 
 
 DiONisiA. Savages. 
 
 DoSta Enbiqueta. You see what savage people 
 we have in this village. 
 
 JuANELA. When is the bell to ring, Lobito? 
 
 Lobito. When the Image returns from the 
 procession through the town and enters the Home. 
 That is what the Mother Superior has decided. 
 You ought to hear old bUnd Martin! 
 
 Jtjanela. Who? 
 
 Lobito. Martin, the bUnd man. He's always 
 [112] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 been La Golondrina's bellman, poor old fellow! 
 He is weeping like a child. You'd think they had 
 brought a child of his back to life. He hasn't 
 slept for three nights. He says he doesn't mind if 
 he dies at the first stroke . . . and I really 
 think he will. It makes your hair stand on end to 
 hear him talk. 
 
 Alfonsa. Dear me, how queer! When does the 
 procession pass, Inacio.'' 
 
 LoBiTO. It went along the causeway a moment 
 ago, so it ought to be here in about half an hour. 
 
 Tebesona. Then we must be getting the flowers 
 ready. 
 
 Alfonsa. Shall we go and cut them? 
 
 LoBiTO. Yes. I'll help you. 
 
 Tebesona. I'm going out now. 
 
 Alfonsa. Come on. [Exit through door upstage 
 and turns to the right.] 
 
 Tehesona [to LoBiTO who starts to foUow her]. 
 Be careful of the flowers, Lobito. 
 
 LoBiTO. Better tell me to be careful of the fruit. 
 Flowers only smell; you eat the fruit after the blos- 
 soms are all gone. Understand? 
 
 [Exit after Alfonsa. 
 
 Tebesona. He is incorrigible. But what are 
 [113] 
 
Ad III MALVALOCA 
 
 you going to do when the girl likes him? It's natural 
 for the boys to Hke the girls, and when we older 
 people leave them alone . . . well, it's natural. 
 
 DiONisiA. Certainly, like with like. 
 
 Dona Enkiqueta. Shall we take a little walk? 
 
 DiONisiA. Good idea! Let us take a walk. 
 
 Dona Enkiqueta [to Juanela]. Are you com- 
 ing? 
 
 JuANELA. Why not? 
 
 DiONisiA. We shall run into many of the towns- 
 people, but it cannot be helped. 
 
 Juanela. What's the difference? They won't 
 eat us. 
 
 Dona Enbiqueta. Ah, there goes the Alcalde's 
 wife! Let us call to her. 
 
 DiONisiA. Dona Casilda! 
 
 Dona Enkiqueta. Dona Casilda! Wait for 
 us, please! 
 
 DiONisiA. Come on. 
 
 Juanela. Very well. 
 
 [At this moment Salvador enters through the 
 door upstage. He also is dressed in his best.] 
 
 Salvador. How are the prettiest women in the 
 town — or out of it? 
 
 Dona Enkiqueta. You flatter us. . . . 
 [114] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 DioNisiA. Good afternoon. 
 
 JuANELA. Good afternoon — ^Always the same! 
 
 Salvador, Are you going out? 
 
 Dona Enriqueta. To take a short walk while 
 we wait for the procession. 
 
 Salvador. It won't be long in coming. 
 
 DioNisiA. It should take about half an hour. 
 We have been figuring it out. 
 
 Salvador. Well, this is a day to find a sweet- 
 heart in the street. 
 
 Dona Enriqueta. Shall we go? 
 
 DioNisLV. Yes. 
 
 Salvador. Beware though of strangers! The 
 weather is fine. After yesterday's rain everything 
 is fresh, and it is a good time for a walk I'm sure. 
 Don't let me detain you. 
 
 DiONisiA. Come, mamma, Dona Casilda is 
 waiting for us. 
 
 Dona Enriqtjeta. Yes, of course. 
 
 JtTANELA. Go on. I'll join you presently. 
 
 [Exeunt Dona Enriqueta and Dionisia 
 through the door upstage. They turn to the 
 l^t. JuANELA remains a moment vdth Sal- 
 vador.] 
 
 Tebesona. There are few people I don't like in 
 [115] 
 
Act III MALVAIXDCA 
 
 this world; I can overlook most anything . . . 
 and I say it in good faith; but I can't help disliking 
 that woman and her daughter. 
 
 Salvador. What amuses me is the way they 
 talk. They're so afiPected and stilted. 
 
 Tbkesona. Do you know what they call her 
 husband? 
 
 JuANELA. That will do, Teresona. Salvador 
 
 Salvador. What is it? I like to see that long 
 face. 
 
 JtTANELA. Have you heard the latest? 
 
 Salvador. No. More nonsense of Leonardo's? 
 
 JuANELA. Another fuss. You knew about yes- 
 terday? 
 
 Salvador. Yes. He struck some one for saying 
 I don't know what about Malvaloca. They told 
 me about it last night. What is it to-day? 
 
 JuANELA. Probably because of yesterday's do- 
 ings he insists upon the woman's coming here to 
 watch the procession with us. 
 
 Salvador. But I thought she was going to walk 
 barefooted behind the procession! 
 
 JuANELA. She wanted to, but he dissuaded her. 
 
 Salvador. So then he persuaded her to come 
 here. The man is crazy. 
 
 [116] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 JuANELA. Just think of it! What will people 
 say? And these friends of mine — I don't know 
 what they will do ! But others who have heard about 
 it have excused themselves from coming. Speak 
 to him; not to persuade him to prevent her from 
 coming, for since he wishes it, and this is his house 
 
 Salvador. No, for heaven's sake! 
 
 JuANELA. But advise him to be prudent, to use 
 discretion, to have a little consideration for others. 
 He has to live with people 
 
 Salvador. All I can say will be useless. But I 
 shall speak to him once more since you wish it. 
 It's the last time, though. 
 
 JxjANELA. Even if it is the last time, don't neglect 
 to speak to him, Salvador. I can't discuss things 
 with him, because I have good-naturedly let him 
 have his own way in whatever he wished ever since 
 I was a little girl. I have always had absolute 
 faith in his goodness. "Whatever my brother does 
 is surely right" is what I have thought and felt all 
 my life. But now, now I confess, Salvador, my head 
 is in a whirl. 
 
 Salvador. He's mad. 
 
 JtTANELA. No, he's not mad. He doesn't talk 
 like a madman. Deep down in my heart, I under- 
 [117] 
 
Act HI MALVALOCA 
 
 stand my brother, don't forget that. B«ason can- 
 not overcome feeUng; but there is always a reason 
 for every feeling. 
 
 Salvador. Very well, don't worry. I'll speak 
 to him. You'd better go now. Your friends are 
 waiting for you. 
 
 Dona Eneiqtjeta [from the street]. Juanela, 
 aren't you coming? 
 
 Juanela. Yes, just a moment. I'm sorry. [To 
 Salvador.] I am going to tell Leonardo that you 
 are here. [Exit through the door upstage, to the right. 
 Presently she is seen to cross the courtyard to the left.] 
 
 Salvador. Innocent child! This is a nice kind 
 of a vacation her brother has given her! 
 
 Tebesona. It's other people's fault; they poison 
 their thoughts. He is good; she is good; and so 
 is the other woman. Can anything bad possibly 
 happen to three such really good people? Non- 
 sense! Listen to me: Is there, or is there not, a 
 God? Well, if there is one, and if nobody does any- 
 thing unless He wishes it — why, all I say is God is 
 old enough to know what He's about! 
 
 Salvador. That's seeing things I suppose in 
 God's way. 
 
 Tebesona, No more and no less. Here he comes. 
 [118] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Salvador. God?!! 
 
 Teresona. Don Leonardo. You always will 
 joke! I'm going to take a look now at the other 
 couple. 
 
 [Leonardo enters from the house, through the 
 door upstage. Teeesona lets him pass, and 
 then loithdraws toward the right, watching the 
 two partners.] 
 
 Leonardo. Juanela told me you wanted me. 
 What do you want? 
 
 Salvador. To see you, first of all. Then — to 
 chat with you a while. Why, it's been a week since 
 we exchanged a word ! I thought somehow you were 
 avoiding me. 
 
 Leonardo. Avoiding you? 
 
 Salvador. Don't worry, I'm not going to ex- 
 amine you about business affairs. I have the ut- 
 most confidence in you. 
 
 Leonardo. So you sent for me to listen to some 
 of your foolish jokes? 
 
 Salvador. The difference is in oiu* conception of 
 life. You take it too seriously, and I, perhaps, too 
 lightly. 
 
 Leonardo. Perhaps. 
 
 Salvador. Only jokers make all the more 
 [ 119 ] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 impression when they become serious. And I am 
 serious now. 
 
 Leonakdo. It is a miracle. 
 
 Salvador. Yes, serious. [Affectionately.] How's 
 your heart, partner? 
 
 Leonakdo. Breaking, but happy. 
 
 Salvador. Very good. And your head — cracked, 
 but happy? 
 
 Leonardo. As you say. 
 
 Salvador. And all for a woman. 
 
 Leonardo. For whom better? 
 
 Salvador. Well, let's have a word about that 
 woman. 
 
 Leonardo. I would prefer that you let that sub- 
 ject alone. 
 
 Salvador. It is several days since we talked 
 about her. 
 
 Leonardo. And there is no reason why we 
 should talk again. 
 
 Salvador. Yes, there is, now. 
 
 Leonardo. No one has a right to speak of this 
 woman to me — ^least of all, you. 
 
 Salvador. It isn't the usual topic this time. 
 It is another matter. Leonardo, this woman is a 
 great source of anxiety to your sister. 
 [120] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Leonabdo. No, it is I who am. Not on her 
 account, nor on mine; but on accoimt of what people 
 will say. I know it. I can see it. But my sister 
 is going back to my aunt and uncle, and the day will 
 come when she will think as I do. 
 
 Salvador. Ah! Your sister is leaving? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. Very soon. The day after 
 to-morrow. I don't want any one to share my 
 sacrifice, not even the woman whom I have taught to 
 be broad-minded and strong. 
 
 Salvador. Are you absolutely sure this experi- 
 ment will endure? 
 
 Leonardo. It has never been an experiment, 
 and it will last all my life. 
 
 Salvador. All your life? 
 
 Leonardo. Yes. You have never loved unless 
 you saw a free avenue of escape; you cannot under- 
 stand me. Malvaloca is my whole life. Painfully 
 but joyfully, I join my lot with hers! 
 
 Salvador. No, I do not understand you. Deuce 
 take your excuses and theories! They are too thin. 
 But, on the other hand, I know how to dispose of a 
 certain other obstacle, even if I do not understand 
 yoiu- idea of sacrificing yourself for this little bird 
 you have picked up in the street. 
 [121] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 Leonardo [troubled]. What other obstacle? And 
 for God's sake be careful what you say! 
 
 SaIiVADOB. Listen to me, and answer me truth- 
 fully; you have always preached to me. I suggested 
 this course to you some time ago, and now, when I 
 least expected it, the crisis has come. Would it 
 surprise you very much if I disappeared from the 
 village? 
 
 Leonardo. From Las Canteras? But where 
 would you go? 
 
 Salvador. That isn't the question. Would it 
 surprise you? 
 
 Leonardo. Perhaps not. 
 
 Salvador. And would you be glad? The truth, 
 Leonardo! 
 
 Leonardo. Truthfully, yes. 
 
 Salvador. I know it. I know, too, that you 
 
 wiU regret it, because our friendship isn't a trifle. 
 
 But I ought to leave you, and I shall. Without 
 
 being able to help it, I wound you, I hurt you, and 
 
 call to your mind things which you would like 
 
 obUterated from the eyes of the world. And whether 
 
 you succeed in forgetting them or not you will be 
 
 saved from many an ache by not seeing me. I 
 
 have never been able to understand man's love for 
 [122] 
 
MALVALOCA Ad lU 
 
 woman; but, I do understand the affection of one 
 man for another. It is a part of my temperament, 
 probably. I have spent my hfe deceiving women, 
 yet I have never been able to deceive a man. And 
 the funny thing is, I like women better! Do you 
 understand me? 
 
 Leonaedo. I imderstand you are veiy generous. 
 Forgive me if I ever called you an egotist. 
 
 SAiiVADOE. Good, Well, it's all over now. Give 
 me your hand. 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, indeed. 
 
 Salvador. And we'll always be friends, no 
 matter how far apart, shall we not? 
 
 Leonardo. Whatever you wish. I can find no 
 words. 
 
 Salvador. Well, then, I'll talk while you are in 
 that fix and keep up your spirits. Don't be foolish; 
 shake off this depression. Cheer up. Remember 
 that there are more women than there are stars, 
 and that it is a shame for a man like you 
 
 Leonardo. Don't! Keep still! 
 
 Salvador. Why should I keep still? Do you 
 know that there never was a man who carried 
 things to such extremes as you do? 
 
 Leonardo. Do you know that my soul is my 
 [123] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 own? And my grief is in my own heart. It is my 
 grief, just as it is my satisfaction to sufiFer it! How 
 can I forget? Happy the men who do not shrink 
 at the thought of the others who have been before 
 them when they kiss a woman ! I am not jealous of 
 you nor of any one else — I am Jealous of a whole 
 past. And that is the life I want for mine! Pity 
 me. Some one is coming. I don't want any one 
 to see that I have been weeping. 
 
 [Embraces his friend and exit through the door 
 at the right.] 
 Salvador. My poor partner! 
 
 [Malvaloca enters vivaciously from the street, 
 
 as though following Leonabdo. She is 
 
 dressed simply and wears a vnde shawl of 
 
 hla£k lace over her shoulders.] 
 
 Malvaloca. Where is Leonardo? Wasn'thehere? 
 
 Salvador. Hello! 
 
 Malvaloca. HeUo! Wasn't Ae here? 
 Salvador. He was. But he heard footsteps 
 and went out, because some one was coming. 
 Malvaloca, And it was only me! 
 Salvador. He didn't recognize your step. 
 Malvaloca. That was on account of the noise 
 in the street. Where is he? 
 [134] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Salvador. He went in there. 
 
 Malvaloca. This way? 
 
 Salvadoh. Yes. Listen. 
 
 Malvaloca. What do you want? 
 
 Salvador. I want to tell you something. 
 
 Malvaloca. You can write it. 
 
 Salvador. Write it? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. I know how to read and 
 write now. He taught me. 
 
 Salvador. To write, too? 
 
 Malvaloca. I don't know it all yet. But I 
 can write some of the letters. I know how to write 
 his name and mine. I'll see youjater. 
 
 Salvador. Wait. 
 
 Malvaloca. No! 
 
 Salvador. Why not? 
 
 Malvaloca. Because I want to lose sight of 
 you. 
 
 Salvador. You, too? 
 
 Malvaloca. Me, too. 
 
 Salvador. I'm not surprised. The world is 
 full of unpleasantness of that sort. You'll find that 
 out pretty soon. Do you know I'm thinking of 
 dissolving the partnership? 
 
 Malvaloca. A good idea. 
 [125] 
 
Aa in : malvaloca . 
 
 Salvador. So I can leave Las Canteras, of 
 course. 
 
 Malvaloca. That's a still better idea than the 
 other! 
 
 Salvador. You like the idea? 
 
 Malvaloca. Uh! You've had enough. I like 
 it for my sake, and for his. A retreating enemy 
 
 Salvador. Am I your enemy, Malvaloca? 
 
 Malvaloca. At present, yes. But all things are 
 healed by time. Now run along, please. 
 
 Salvador. I'm going. Doesn't your conscience 
 prick you for what you have done to this man? 
 
 Malvaloca. What have I done but love him? 
 
 Salvador. You've crazed him . 
 
 Malvaloca. I'm crazy, too — ^with the same 
 kind of madness. We've had the same fate. 
 
 Salvador. Is it possible? 
 
 Malvaloca. It isn't always that two people 
 are joined together and only one in love. Here 
 are two of us in love and in love with each 
 other. 
 
 Salvador. Well, I advise you, Malvaloca 
 
 Malvaloca. Come, you're a pilgrim now; go 
 and do your preaching in the desert. I will pay 
 just as much attention to you there. 
 [126] 
 
MALVALOCA Act 171 
 
 Salvador. You're right. 
 
 "I've seen many a splendid castle 
 "In ruins on the ground." . . . 
 
 Well, since he wants to keep you from me — God bless 
 you! We won't see each other again. 
 Malvaloca. Good-bye. 
 
 Salvador. Your hand, girl. Won't you even 
 ^ve me yoiu" hand for the sake of the past? 
 
 Malvaloca. I'll give you nothing for the sake 
 of the past. 
 
 Salvador. Just a good-bye handshake — ^like 
 two friends. 
 Malvaloca. Like that, yes. 
 Salvador. Thanks. Good-bye. 
 Malvaloca. Good>-bye. 
 Salvador. I'm just the same as I ever was. 
 Malvaloca. Well, I'm another person, now. 
 Salvador. Grood-bye. 
 
 [Exit into the street. Conflicting eTnoiions 
 distract his mind.} 
 Malvaloca. He's right to go. But where is 
 Leonardo? I don't dare go in there. 
 
 [Alfonsa and Lobito reenter from the garden. 
 Alfonsa carries a basket of flowers which 
 [127] 
 
Ad III MALVALOCA 
 
 she sets upon the table. Lobito's carnations 
 are on her breast.] 
 Alfonsa. Teresona told me to put these upon 
 the table. 
 
 LoBiTO. Wouldn't it be better to make some 
 bouquets? 
 
 Alfonsa. No, sir. When they are loose, there 
 seem to be more of them, and we can throw them 
 better. 
 Malvaloca. Lobito! Is it you? 
 LoBiTO {turning around]. Eh? Good afternoon. 
 You! In this house? 
 
 Alfonsa. Good afternoon. \Lo6ks at her in 
 wonder.] Ah! 
 
 Malvaloca. I shouldn't have known you. You 
 look as grand as the Alcalde himself. 
 
 [Alfonsa breaks into laughter which is loud 
 enough to be heard in her own town. Lobito 
 also laughs.] 
 Lobito. My, how she did enjoy that! 
 Malvaloca. Are you dressed up like this so as 
 to catch a sweetheart? 
 Lobito. We're beyond that sort of thing now. 
 
 Enter Jtjanela, hastily and excitedly. 
 JuANELA. Good afternoon. 
 [128] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Malvaloca [somewhat disconcerted]. Good after- 
 noon. 
 
 JuANELA. I saw you come in, so I left my 
 friends. Where is Leonardo? 
 
 Malvaloca. I don't know. 
 
 [Jtjanela looks at both doors,] 
 
 LoBiTO [to Alfonsa]. Let's go pick some more 
 flowers. 
 
 Alfonsa. Very well. We can't go too far in 
 the service of the Lord. 
 
 LoBiTO. We won't be missed here, either. 
 
 [Exeunt Lobito and Alfonsa. Juanbla's 
 eyes open wide with curiosity as she gazes at 
 Malvaloca.] 
 
 Malvaloca, Did you know I was coming? 
 
 JuANELA. My brother told me. 
 
 Malvaloca. I didn't want to come, really I 
 didn't, 
 
 JxTANELA. I knew that, too. But when he sets 
 his heart upon a thing — ^you imderstand 
 
 Malvaloca. He has his own way. Excuse me 
 for saying so, but when I am with him, I feel I have 
 a right anywhere. But without him, I feel as if 
 I didn't belong anywhere — ^least of all, here. 
 
 JUANELA. Why? 
 
 [129] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. You know without my telliug you. 
 Had we better say any more? 
 
 JuANELA. He'll be here in a minute. 
 
 Malvaloca. I can't see this thing so clearly — 
 the way you can. You are his sister. 
 
 JuANELA. It hurts me to see him downhearted, 
 to see him weep. 
 
 Malvaloca. You cannot love without tears. 
 
 JuANELA. Do you think so? 
 
 Malvaloca. Leonardo was unfortunate enough 
 to rim across me pretty well along in life. When I 
 saw how he loved me, I made up my mind I would 
 let him go, but it was too late. I was caught in 
 the same chain myself. 
 
 JuANELA. Is it so strong? 
 
 Malvaloca. There is no anvil on which it can 
 be broken, and no fire which can melt it. A heart- 
 beat forged the chain — ^and I never knew I had a 
 heart till I felt his beating at my side. His sang 
 there, and mine answered his like a bird. I'd rather 
 die than ever stop listening and answering to its 
 sound. 
 
 JuANELA. I can see that it was most unfortunate. 
 
 Malvaloca. For Leonardo, as you say. For 
 me, it was Uke being born again. This is my punish- 
 [130 1 
 
MALVALOCA Aet in 
 
 ment: that I should have to be bom again in order 
 to be the woman he deserves. 
 
 JuANELA. But that is impossible! 
 
 Malvaloca. That word "impossible" is the 
 cause of aU our tears. 
 
 Jtjanela. It is very sad. 
 
 Malvaloca. My life has been sadder; and I'm 
 still on my feet. 
 
 JuANELA. Which is sadder still? 
 
 Malvaloca. But child, don't you see? This is 
 
 the day I begin to live! My former life What 
 
 do you know about pain? If it were written on my 
 forehead then of course you could read, I don't 
 want to exaggerate my misfortune. The fact is that 
 Leonardo and I have entered a tunnel without any 
 way out and with only the light which we bring on 
 the traLa. But don't you worry: little by little 
 there will be more light. God has lighted my steps. 
 In my greatest trouble, something unexpected has 
 always happened to light me the way. It is natural 
 
 to me — ^like my black hair Who is coming? 
 
 [Dona Eneiqueta and Dionisia enter unex- 
 pectedly. They are somewhat out of breath. 
 ' After them Alfonsa and Lobito appear with 
 more flowers, which they put upon the table 
 [131] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 as before. Their attention is attracted by the 
 conversation between Juanela and the mother 
 and daughter, but they content themselves 
 with comments upon it to each other with 
 significant gestures.] 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Goodness me! I never saw 
 such a hubbub! 
 DioNisiA. And how ill-mannered the people are] 
 Dona Enkiqtjeta. You did right to turn back. 
 [With a surprised and disgusted air as she sees Mal- 
 VALOCA.] Eh? 
 Dionisia. What? 
 Malvaloca. Good afternoon. 
 Dona Enriqtteta. What does this mean? 
 
 [There is a painful silence. Mother and 
 daughter exchange a glance of astonishment.] 
 Juanela [very much embarrassed]. So you found 
 walking difficult in the street? I thought you would. 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Walking was difficult there, 
 and conditions are imcomfortable here. We had 
 better go. 
 Juanela. Must you go? 
 DioNiSLV.. Yes, I'm not feeling very well. 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Yes, she's not feeling very 
 well. 
 
 [132] 
 
MALVALOCA Act 111 
 
 JuANELA. I'll make her a cup of tea. 
 
 Dona Enriqueta. No, thank you. Come, my 
 dear. 
 
 DioNisiA. Very well, mamma. 
 
 JuANELA. But aren't you going to stay to watch 
 the procession? 
 
 Dona Enkiqiteta. Yes, but we shall see it as it 
 enters the church. Come! 
 
 DiONisiA. Yes, we must be going. 
 
 Dona Enbiqueta. Good afternoon, Juanela. 
 
 JuANELA. Good afternoon. You don't know 
 how sorry I 
 
 Dona Eneiqueta. Never mind the explanation. 
 Good-bye. [To Dionisia, as she starts to go.\ Did 
 you see, my child? Did you see? 
 
 Dionisia. Did you see, mamma? 
 
 Dona Enbiqueta. Heavens, what shamelessness ! 
 
 [Exeunt haughtily upstage and to the left. 
 
 Alfonsa and Lobito have preceded them a 
 
 little through the same door, but to the right.] 
 
 Malvaloca [humbly, to Juanela]. Did they 
 leave because they saw me ? [Juanela, without 
 intending it, makes a gesture of assent.] I'm sorry 
 for you, more than I am for nayself . You see how 
 it is. If I hadn't come 
 
 [133] 
 
Act III MALVAIOCA 
 
 Leonakdo enters through door at the right. 
 
 Leonardo. What is this? 
 
 Malvaloca. God bless us! 
 
 Leonardo. What was it? What were you 
 saying? 
 
 JuANELA. Oh, nothing! 
 
 Leonardo. Yes, tell me what it was. 
 
 JuANELA. Dona Enriqueta and her daughter — 
 came 
 
 Leonardo. And went away when they saw 
 Malvaloca. Am I right? 
 
 Malvaloca and Juanela. Yes. 
 
 Leonardo. Good riddance! Other friends of 
 ours decUned to come because they already knew — 
 another good riddance! Every one according to 
 his own conscience, but why then make a parade of 
 Christ through the streets? 
 
 Juanela. We must have more flowers than this 
 to throw when He passes. [Exit upstage to the right. 
 
 Leonardo. Now you see, they avoid you. 
 
 Malvaloca. Your sister doesn't. 
 
 Leonardo. She may not, but the other women 
 do. 
 
 Malvaloca. Let them avoid me. So long as 
 
 you don't- 
 
 [134] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Leonardo. Is that all you want? 
 
 Malvaloca. Have I any other love in the world? 
 No one ever offered me the protection that you do. 
 I might just as well say "I am yours" at once, and 
 with me it is something more than words . . . 
 Leonardo, I am yours! 
 
 Leonardo. You are mine! 
 
 Malvaloca. Yours! Because I live only for 
 you, and because your joy is my joy. Lift your 
 eyes from the ground and look at me. Why, I'm 
 getting jealous of the very tiles of the floor! Come! 
 Now I see you are smiling. Why, all I have are 
 yoiu* arms, and I have foimd shelter there as one 
 finds shelter beneath the branches of a tree because 
 there it is calm and at peace! [fVith a svdden tran- 
 sition.] But I don't want you to be a weeping willow. 
 I prefer an orange tree which blossoms and gives 
 fruit, and which never loses its leaves in the winter. 
 Do you understand? 
 
 Leonardo [passianaiely]. I am indeed a tree that 
 shelters you, and your words are the air that gives 
 me life, 
 
 iMalvaloca. How romantic you are! And how 
 I do love you, you big earthquake! 
 
 Leonardo. How happy we are to love one an- 
 [135] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 other like this! The rest of the world no longer 
 exists — ^just you and I. 
 
 Malvaloca. Out love has been like a torch. 
 Uh! I was carrying my little load of wood alone 
 on my back; then you began to smile and in half 
 an hour the whole forest was ablaze! And there 
 is Diothing like that fire, is there? 
 
 Leonakdo. Nothing like the fire, nor like you. 
 
 Malvaloca. How nice it is to be in love! You 
 are with the person you love more when you are 
 away from him than when you are with him. You 
 wake up at night, and you can see no one else. 
 You sleep, and you dream about him. You get up 
 in the morning, and all you expect is to see him 
 coming from somewhere. He may or he may not 
 come. Then you say to yourself: He told me so- 
 and-so yesterday — or maybe he didn't tell me. He 
 smiled or he didn't smile. He is crying; he is 
 jealous; what a funny way he throws his hat in the 
 chair! He is going. No, don't go . . . But 
 he must go . . . Come back then in the after- 
 noon, please do . . . and be sure . . . 
 please come back. He goes. Good7bye . . . 
 Then he comes back all of a sudden to surprise me! 
 Great heavens! There is nothing like love! 
 [136] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Leonahdo. Have you been in love very many 
 times, Malvaloca? 
 
 Malvaloca. Who? I? Only once. But I've 
 had echoes. 
 
 Leonardo. Only once.'' With whom? 
 
 Malvaloca. Don Pelayo! [Leonardo smiles.] 
 Wasn't it Don Pelayo who conquered the Asturias — 
 or have you deceived me? 
 
 Leonardo. I never decei ve you. 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, then, love seems to have had 
 some connection with Don Pelayo. I fell in love 
 with you, foundryman, with only you in the world! 
 With you — and you're nobler, too, than Don J'elayo. 
 But I warn you first: Don Pelayo has a street named 
 after him in Seville. Somebody I know lived in 
 number three. Who can say but that was the be- 
 ginning of our love? 
 
 Leonardo [charmed]. Who can say? 
 
 Malvaloca. Do you remember the day we met 
 in the Home? 
 
 Leonardo. Could I forget it? 
 
 Malvaloca. One look, and you could feel the 
 flash of lightning which always strikes people who 
 are going to fall in love. 
 
 Leonardo. And then — after you had gone 
 
 [137] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 MALVAiiOCA. Yes, then you followed me! I 
 was so happy! 
 
 Lbonaedo. Were you really pleased? 
 
 Malvaloca. Uh! Then I stopped on a corner 
 — ^as if I didn't know where to go. 
 
 Leonaedo. And I came up to you upon the 
 excuse of showing you the way. 
 
 Malvaloca. And the ways we were looking for 
 lay together . . . and we took the same road, 
 didn't we, Leonardo? 
 
 Leonardo. And we will never abandon it, will 
 we? 
 
 Malvaloca. No, my sweet. But how wonder- 
 fully God brings things about! He led me there 
 to ask for some one else — so as to meet the man who 
 was to be mine! 
 
 Leonardo [with sudden sadness]. To ask for 
 some one else? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes, for another. To meet you! 
 Now don't you mourn Uke a cypress tree; you were 
 an orange in full bloom. The other has gone for- 
 ever! 
 
 Leonardo. How do you know?. 
 
 Malvaloca. Because I am a fortune teller and 
 clairvoyant. 
 
 [138] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Leonardo. He told you? You bade each other 
 good-bye? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. 
 
 Leonakdo. When? 
 
 Malvaloca. Here, a little while ago after you 
 left him. He went away, and may God protect 
 him and keep him well. 
 
 Leonakdo. He went away; yes, he went away 
 . . . but will those thoughts go away — those 
 thoughts of the past which centred in him? 
 
 Malvaloca. Leonardo! 
 
 Leonardo. Malvaloca, my soul, they are stronger 
 than my will! 
 
 Malvaloca. Oh, why did I call them up! 
 
 Leonakdo. You see this, the one love of my life, 
 suffers this torment, which gnaws at my heart hke 
 a dull pain — even when he is farthest from my 
 sight! 
 
 Malvaloca. Don't, Leonardo ! Oh, if only some 
 one could root up those horrid thoughts — could 
 tear them out by the roots! 
 
 Leonardo. They would spring up again. Why, 
 the more I listen to you, and see you, and love you, 
 the more am I saddened when I feel the shame of 
 your former life! 
 
 [139] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. No — no, Leonardo, not that! II 
 my love must always hurt you, I shall leave you. 
 
 Leonardo. Never! Not that, surely! 
 
 Malvaloca. Well, then, kill me! 
 
 Leonardo. That least of all! I want you to 
 live — ^by my side, consoling me, making me laugh 
 when you laugh, or else making me cry, sharing my 
 joys and my sorrows as I look into your eyes, kiss 
 your mouth, and stroke your hair . . . that's 
 how I want you, I love you! 
 
 Malvaloca. Leonardo, you're mad! 
 
 Leonardo. No ! One fear keeps me from going 
 mad. 
 
 Malvaloca. What fear.'' 
 
 Leonardo [looking at her very sharply, with 
 frenzied exaltation]. That if I were mad, I should 
 not know you when I saw you. 
 
 Malvaloca. Come here! Why, you're worse 
 than mad! Calm yourself and that fiery head of 
 yours, which is burning you up. Why, I love you 
 and you only — ^you have made me into another 
 woman. It hurts me more than it does you to have 
 the marks of my former life on my body. But 
 what did it matter to me what I was before I met 
 you."* Little less than nothing. I shook off my 
 [ 140] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 sins as one shakes off the snow. Then I met you; 
 you spoke to me as no one ever had spoken before; 
 you taught me to love, your love brought tears to 
 my eyes, and in those tears I saw clearly what I 
 was, what you were, and what my former life had 
 been. I thought I should find consolation in you, 
 and now yoiu* thoughts take that from me. Either 
 bury them or me, Leonardo, deep under the 
 ground and never let Malvaloca trouble you any 
 more! 
 
 Leonardo. Bury you? Put you under the 
 ground? Like the recast bell. An idea — ^an idea 
 
 Once more the little verse! Under the 
 
 ground Oh, if that were only possible! 
 
 Malvaloca. Hush! Let us not torture our- 
 selves any more. 
 
 Leonabdo [enlarging upon his idea as in ecstasy, 
 ihcmgh with regret]. To form your beautiful body in 
 wax, redden it with my blood, cover it with earth, 
 throw the pieces into the fire in the crucible, purify 
 them with the living flames, then take you out again, 
 pure, clean, another being — ^yet the same! New, 
 spotless, without a past, but the same! With those 
 same eyes, that mouth, and that great and good 
 soul in which my whole being is consumed! 
 [141] 
 
Aa III MALVALOCA 
 
 Malvaloca. Hush, hush! What infatuation! 
 What dreams! Hush! Why, you're crying! 
 
 Leonardo. Of course, I am crying. Why 
 shouldn't I cry.? Only the irremediable things draw 
 tears from men! 
 
 Malvaloca. Hush! I hear some one! 
 
 Leonardo. What do I care? 
 
 Malvaloca. Can the procession be coming? 
 
 Leonardo. The procession? 
 
 Malvaloca. Could they have seen us from the 
 street? 
 
 Leonardo. I don't know, nor do I care. 
 
 [JuANELA, approaching, calls from off stage.] 
 
 JxjANELA . Leonardo ! 
 
 Malvaloca. Your sister! 
 
 Leonardo. My sister? 
 
 Malvaloca. Yes. Dry your eyes. 
 
 Leonardo. And you, too! 
 
 [Juanela reenters from the door through which 
 she went out. She is followed by Teresona, 
 Alfonsa, and Lobito.] 
 
 Juanela. The procession is at the corner. 
 
 Leonardo. Really? So soon? 
 
 Teresona. Good afternoon. 
 
 Malvaloca. Good afternoon. 
 [142] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 Teebsona. The Image is coming. 
 AiiFONSA. Here it is! Here it is! Inacio, you 
 must explain everything to me! 
 
 [The four have scarcely entered before they go 
 up to the window. MALVAiiOCA and Leon- 
 ardo remain apart. Soon the strains of 
 the town band which follows the Redeemer 
 are heard in the distance, and then draw 
 nearer, more clearly and clearly heard. Al- 
 FONSA, ingenuously enthusiastic, comments 
 upon the procession ivith Lobito.] 
 Tehesona [to Malvaloca]. Won't you stand 
 with us? 
 
 Malvaloca. Thank you, I'm all right here. 
 Lobito. The Cross! See the Cross! 
 Alfonsa. My, how gorgeous! Is it all sil- 
 ver? 
 
 Lobito. All solid silver! 
 
 Alfonsa. Look at the man who carries it! Ah! 
 See the children! How cunning they are with their 
 little candles held in their handkerchiefs! 
 
 Lobito. The whole school and the Academy are 
 there. Those who haven't new neckties, wear new 
 shoes! 
 
 Alfonsa. Oh, do look at that little boy dressed 
 [143] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 like an angel! Look, Aunty, and you, Senorita, 
 look how beautiful he is! 
 
 Tebesona. We see him, girl, we see him. Keep 
 your eyes open and wait. 
 
 AiFONSA. My, his wings look like glass! I 
 wonder who his mother is? And who are those 
 men? 
 
 LoBiTO. The most prominent men of the village. 
 There is the Alcalde. 
 
 AxFONSA. Which one? 
 
 LoBiTO. The one with the silver staff. 
 
 Alfonsa. With whiskers? 
 
 LoBiTO. Yes. 
 
 JuANELA and Teeesona. The Image of Christ! 
 
 JuANELA. The flowers! 
 
 Tebesona and Alfonsa. The flowers! The 
 flowers! 
 
 LoBiTO. I'm going to ask Gonzdlez to halt 
 here. Then I'm going to hurry to the church door 
 to wait for the image to come You know why! 
 
 Alfonsa. Take care to neglect nothing! 
 
 [Exit LoBiTO through the door upstage, to the 
 
 left. Juanela, Teresona, and Alfonsa 
 
 have crossed to the table for the flowers. 
 
 Juanela looks benevolently at Malvaloca 
 
 [ 144] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 who is still somewhat constrained, and viiih 
 an impulse of deep piety, grasping a handful 
 of flowers, goes to her and places them sweetly 
 in her hands so that she may throw them as 
 the Image passes.] 
 
 Jttanela. You must take some, too. 
 
 MALVAiiOCA. Thank you very much. 
 
 [The four group themselves at the window. 
 Leonardo follows, keeping apart, however, 
 watching intently. From the street a faint 
 fragrance of incense arises. The Image has 
 stopped in front of the window. Meanwhile 
 the band has ceased playing. The four 
 women throw all their flowers to the Image 
 of Christ, then pray in silence. Malvaloca 
 leaves the window and prays on her knees by 
 the table, where the flowers were, weeping 
 sofUy.] 
 
 Tehesona. a woman is going to sing a hymn. 
 
 JuANELA. Who is she.'' 
 
 Teresona. I don't know her. 
 
 JtJANELA. She has a child in her arms. 
 
 Alfonsa. Oh, so she has! It looks like a little 
 rosebud. 
 
 Teresona. Hush! 
 
 " [ 145 ] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 [The woman sings uoith earnest devotion the 
 following hymn in a shrill voice: 
 
 O Christ, thou blessed Redeemer, 
 Look down from Heaven above; 
 And lay thy tenderest blessing 
 On this, the child I love! 
 
 The four women kneel, vnjring their eyes. 
 The procession resumes its march again. 
 The band plays and moves off. Juanela, 
 Tekesona, and Alfonsa arise. Mal- 
 VALOCA remains on her knees for a time.] 
 Alfonsa. What a procession! It was like glow- 
 ing coals of gold! 
 
 Juanela. How brilliant it was! How many 
 flowers! 
 
 Teresona. This is a great day in Las Canteras! 
 Let's go up on the roof and watch it as it goes into 
 the church. 
 
 Juanela. Yes, indeed! It will be worth the 
 trouble. Come! 
 Alfonsa. Yes, come on, 
 
 [The three women go out through the door up- 
 stage, to the right. When Malvaloca 
 [146] 
 
MALVALOCA Act III 
 
 sees she is alone with her lover, she gets up, 
 runs to him, and sobbing, hides her. face on 
 his breast.] 
 Leonabdo [embracing her, profoundly numed]. Mal- 
 valoca! 
 
 Malvaloca. I am with you! Protect me and 
 look down on me with pity as you hang upon your 
 Cross! Don't ever leave me! When you stop 
 loving me, kill me ! But meanwhile, let me be with 
 you — ^with you! 
 
 Leonakdo. Yes, with me! Eternally tormented 
 but eternally happy! Overshadowed by the same 
 griefs, torn by the prongs of the same thorns, but 
 always — ^together ! 
 
 Malvaloca. Together — ^you and I! 
 Leonardo. You and I! 
 
 [Far off in the tower, welcoming the Image of 
 Him who was able to pardon a sinful woman, 
 the first vibration of La Golondrina, as she 
 is rung by the hands of blind Martin, comes 
 stealing through the air. The two lovers, 
 trembling, move closer together in each other's 
 arms,] 
 Malvaloca. La Golondrina! 
 Leonabdo. La Golondrina! Listen — ^listen — 
 [147] 
 
Act III MALVALOCA 
 
 how triumphant she sounds! How I have striven 
 and longed for this hour! 
 
 Malvaloca. You recast her, you! Listen to 
 her — ^listen to her! 
 
 Leonardo. She sings of universal love! Her 
 voice speaks with a new meaning to my heart. I 
 will also recast your life by the warmth of my kisses, 
 by the fire of this wild love of mine, which is as 
 great even as your misfortune! 
 
 Malvaloca. With you — to be with you ! 
 
 [La Golondrina, whose notes at first were spb- 
 dued and gravely slow, now breaks forth into 
 a lively, happy song, vibrant with the note 
 of victory, proclaiming to the fields and villages 
 the life that is reborn.] 
 
 END OF THE PLAT 
 
 [148] 
 
NOTES FOR A CRITICAL STUDY OF 
 "MALVALOCA" 
 
 "Malvaloca" is differentiated from the usual 
 dramas of local or provincial customs by the absence 
 of an ulterior aim, whether didactic or otherwise. 
 It is similar in this respect to the lighter Irish plays, 
 to which the manner of the Quinteros bears an affin- 
 ity. But the Quinteros are more fagile. We feel 
 that it would have been an easy matter for them to 
 have composed, in odd moments, the entire reper- 
 tory of the Irish theatre. 
 
 The realism of the Quinteros is not to be con- 
 founded with that of the peasant drama, either of 
 Spain or the rest of Europe. It is more impression- 
 istic and less insistent, having little in common with 
 those tragedies of blood and death. Nor has it 
 any sociological bias. 
 
 The plot of "Malvaloca" is of the oldest in the 
 history of the stage. The story of the unfortunate 
 woman whose life has not sullied the purity of her 
 [149] 
 
NOTES FOR A CRITICAL STUDY OF "MALVALOCA" 
 
 soul — which remains white like snow — is one whose 
 appeal never fails. The authors accept it as a con- 
 ventional device which is necessary to the conduct 
 of the action; yet it never obscures the dialogue, nor 
 does it becloud the atmosphere. No dependence is 
 placed upon compUcations; the situations are few 
 and far between. The only dramatic moments in 
 the familiar sense are at the recasting of the bell 
 at the end of the second act, and in the third act 
 when the procession passes and La Golondrina is 
 rung again. But both the recasting and the proces- 
 sion occur off stage. 
 
 There are no villains. Tio Jeromo is an engaging 
 rogue, doubtless rather unreliable, but it would be 
 ungallant to doubt that Dona Enriqueta and her 
 daughter would show themselves capable upon occa- 
 sion of the most exalted conduct. The moral con- 
 flict is no more important than the theatrical one. 
 Leonardo is no better than Salvador — ^he is less 
 worldly-wise, that is all; more sentimental. Note 
 how Salvador incurs no odium in the reader's mind 
 when he announces that he has abandoned Malvaloca 
 and her child. We do not believe, after all, that he 
 can be so bad. When, at the end of the play, he 
 sees that Leonardo is jealous of him and realizes 
 [150] 
 
NOTES FOR A CRITICAL STUDY OF "MALVALOCA" 
 
 that he is in earnest, he eliminates himself and goes 
 away in the interest of his friend. It seems almost 
 like a concession to prejudice. 
 
 The ideas are the small change of the mind com- 
 mon among all peoples — ticonardo hesitates to 
 marry Malvaloca because of her past; the marriage 
 is unwelcome in the eyes of the sister; Salvador is 
 felt to be a disturbing element. The audience 
 leaves the theatre with precisely the conceptions 
 of life with which it came. 
 
 In sketching the life of Andalusia, the Quinteros 
 have solved the problem of a drama of sunshine. 
 They have achieved success in well-nigh one htmdred 
 plays and are without serious rivals in any country 
 when we consider the portrayal of local customs in 
 the more popular field. 
 
 In its original form the play was dedicated to the 
 distinguished savant, Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo. 
 
 [151] 
 
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
 GARDEN CITY N. Y.