Jav. Poor Lazarus was very ill. However, they say that he is now getting on perfectly: the malady has passed the critical point.
Tim. So they say and he seems very much restored: but he is always a very extraordinary person—like all men of talent.
Jav. And so we shall have the wedding.
Tim. Hum—wedding—that’s flour from another sack. I say nothing so as not to distress Carmen, not to be disagreeable to the parents, and because I would not give the boy another fainting fit. If Lazarus recovers completely and comes back to what he was, and writes something that will bring him considerable fame—sufficient to prove that his brain is quite sound—then the way is clear—eh? Because Carmen, poor Carmen. But this Paca is not coming!
Jav. Carmen is very fond of him, is she not?
Tim. I don’t know—I don’t know that girl, God help me! I am taking her away soon: within four or five hours we shall set out to catch the train. And before going away I shall speak to Bermudez.
Jav. I only saw Lazarus for a moment, and he seemed to me——
Tim. How?
Jav. Much better. Youth works miracles. (Aside.) Poor Lazarus!
Tim. It’s true, it’s true. I myself had—I don’t know what—and I was so to say—crazy for more than a year—much more; and it passed off.