"The one thing I insist on," continued the Prince after a long pause, "is that we live alone, as men among men. No women! Women must be excluded from our life in common."
The pianist opened his eyes in astonishment; Castro stirred in his chair; Novoa removed his glasses with a mechanical gesture of surprise, immediately adjusting them once more to his nose.
There was another silence.
"What you propose," said Atilio, at last, with a smile, "reminds me of a comedy of Shakespeare. No women! And the hero in the end gets married."
"I know that play," replied the Prince, "but I am not in the habit of governing my life according to comedies, and I don't believe in their teachings. You can rest assured that I shan't marry, even if it gives the lie to Shakespeare and the French king from whose chronicle he got the material for his work."
"But what you're attempting is absurd," Castro went on: "I don't know what the rest think, but prevent me from...!"
With a gesture he ended his protest.
Then seeing that the Prince had remained thoughtful, he added:
"It is quite evident that you have had your fill!... You have gotten all you wanted, and now you want to force on us...."
The Prince, although absorbed in his own train of thought, he had not heard him, interrupted.