Berm. Señor de Mejia. (Aside.) How well he speaks!
Laz. Don’t treat me ceremoniously. I am not deserving of so much solemnity. “Señor de Mejia”! (Laughing.) Call me Lazarus. I really don’t deserve anything better; treat me as a master might a pupil. I dare not say as a kind friend would treat a respectful friend.
Berm. As you please. It will be an honour for me! (Aside.) Very engaging, very engaging!
Laz. Well, I repeat that I am sorry at heart for having given you this trouble.
Berm. Not at all. I already told your mother last night that if at any other time she required me, or if she wished by any further suggestions to make me amplify my opinion, I was unconditionally at her orders. A card saying to me “Come,” and I should come instantly. And so it is that on receiving the letter this morning—as you may imagine—I said, “I must place myself at the feet of that lady, and I must personally become acquainted with her son, a national glory of the future, one who is destined to have a European renown.”
Laz. Señor de Bermudez! (Repudiating the honour with a gesture. Aside.) My mother—last night—what does he say? (Commanding himself, then aloud.) So my mother went last night—to see you—because——
Berm. Yes, señor, she has already explained everything to me. That you were out hunting, and that you did not mean to return this week; that she had been informed that I was going back to Madrid this day, and that she had been anxious to consult me without the loss of a moment concerning the illness of that poor young man—a cousin or a nephew, or a relative—I think he is a nephew of your mother, whose name she said was—Don Luis—Don Luis——
Laz. Quite so—a nephew. You have it. (Smiling. Then aside.) What’s this? What relative is that? Why, it is not true. God of Heaven! (Aloud.) A nephew—that’s it. To whom God does not give sons, the devil,—— (Laughing.) Yes, but she also has me—her Lazarus, her son!
Berm. And she must be proud.
Laz. Señor de Bermudez, have compassion on a beginner. But I wish you to explain to me what you had the kindness to explain to my mother; because ladles—don’t understand much about medical science—and though I understand just as little of it, nevertheless——