SCENE FIRST
(The stage setting is the interior of a stable. Overhead are piles of
hay; along the walls are wheels, tubes, shafts, a long copper chimney,
a huge boiler. To the left of the spectator the Madonna is sculptured
on a pillar. To the right is a table strewn with paper and
mathematical instruments. Above the table hangs on the wall a
blackboard covered with figures; by the side of the table is a shelf
on which are onions, a water crock and a loaf. To the right of the
spectator is a wide door, and to the left, a door opening on the
fields. A straw bed lies by the side of the pillar at the feet of the
Madonna. It is night-time.)
Fontanares and Quinola.
(Fontanares, in a black robe girded by a leathern belt, works at his
table. Quinola is checking the various parts of the machine.)
Quinola
Though you wouldn't think it, senor, I also have been in love! Only
when I have once understood the woman, I have always bade her
good-bye. A full pot and bottle, ah! these never betray, and moreover,
you grow fat on them. (He glances at his master.) Pshaw! He doesn't
even hear me. There are three more pieces ready for the forge. (He
opens the door.) Here is Monipodio!
SCENE SECOND
The same persons and Monipodio.
Quinola
The last three pieces have come in. Bring the models and make
duplicates of them, as a provision against accident.
(Monipodio beckons to Quinola from the passage; two men make their
appearance.)
Monipodio
Carry these away, boys, and not a sound! Vanish like spectres. This is
worse than theft. (To Quinola) He is dead and buried in his work.
Quinola
He suspects nothing as yet.
Monipodio
Neither they nor any one else suspect us. Each piece is wrapped up
like a jewel and hidden in a cellar. But we need thirty ducats.
Quinola
Zounds!
Monipodio
Thirty rascals built like those fellows eat as much as sixty ordinary
men.
Quinola
Quinola and Company have failed, and I am a fugitive!
Monipodio
From protests?
Quinola
Stupid! They want me bodily. Fortunately, I have two or three suits of
old clothes which may serve to deliver Quinola from the clutches of
the keenest sleuths, until I can make payment.
Monipodio
Payment? That is folly.
Quinola
Yes, I have kept a little nest-egg against our thirst. Put on that
ragbag of the begging friar and go to Lothundiaz and have a talk with
the duenna.
Monipodio
Alas! Lopez has returned from Algeria so often that our dear duenna
begins to suspect us.
Quinola
I merely wish her to carry this letter to Senorita Marie Lothundiaz
(handing a letter). It is a masterpiece of eloquence, inspired by that
which inspires all masterpieces. See! We have been living for ten days
on bread and water.
Monipodio
And what could we look for? To eat ortolans? If our men had expected
fine fare they would have struck long ago.
Quinola
If love would only cash my note of hand, we might still get out of
this hole.
(Exit Monipodio.)
SCENE THIRD
Quinola and Fontanares.
Quinola (rubbing an onion into his bread)
This is the way we are told the Egyptian pyramid-builders were fed,
but they must also have had the sauce which gives us an appetite, and
that is faith. (Drinks water.) You don't appear to be hungry, senor?
Take care that the machine in your head doesn't go wrong!
Fontanares
I am nearing the final solution--
Quinola (whose sleeve splits up as he puts back the crock)
And I have found one in the continuity of my sleeve. In this trade my
clothes are becoming as uncertain as an unknown quantity in algebra.
Fontanares
You are a fine fellow! Always merry, even in the depths of misfortune.
Quinola
And why not, gadzooks! Fortune loves the merry almost as much as the
merry love her.
SCENE FOURTH
The same persons and Mathieu Magis.
Quinola
Ah! Here comes our dear Lombard; he looks at all these pieces of
machinery as if they were already his lawful property.
Mathieu Magis
I am your most humble servant, my dear Senor Fontanares.
Quinola
This is he, polished, dry, cold as marble.
Fontanares
Good-day, Senor Magis. (Cuts himself a piece of bread.)
Mathieu Magis
You are a sublime hero, and as far as I am concerned, I wish you all
sorts of good luck.
Fontanares
And is this the reason why you try to bring upon me all sorts of bad
luck?
Mathieu Magis
You snap me up very sharply; you do wrong, you forget that in me there
are two men.
Fontanares
I have never seen the other.
Mathieu Magis
I have a heart, away from my business.
Fontanares
But you are never away from your business.
Mathieu Magis
I am always filled with admiration at the sight of your struggle.
Fontanares
Admiration is the passion which is the most easily exhausted.
Moreover, you never make any loans on sentiment.
Mathieu Magis
There are sentiments which bring profit, while others cause ruin. You
are animated by faith; that is very fine, but it is ruinous. We made
six months ago certain little agreements; you asked of me three
thousand ducats for your experiments--
Quinola
On the condition, that you were to receive five thousand in return.
Fontanares
Well?
Mathieu Magis
The payment was due two months ago.
Fontanares
You demanded it by legal process two months ago, the very next day
after it was due.
Mathieu Magis
I did it without thought of annoying you, merely as a formality.
Fontanares
And what do you want now?
Mathieu Magis
You are to-day my debtor.
Fontanares
Eight months gone already? It has passed like a dream! And I was
proposing to myself this evening the solution of the problem how to
introduce cold water, so as to dissolve the steam! Magis, my dear
friend, assist me in this matter, be my protector, and give me a few
days more?
Mathieu Magis
As many as you desire.
Quinola
Do you mean it? This is the first appearance of the other man. (To
Fontanares) Senor, I shall make the gentleman my friend. (To Magis) I
appeal to the two Magises and ask if they will give us the sight of a
few doubloons!
Fontanares
Ah! I begin to breathe freely.
Mathieu Magis
That can easily be managed. I am to-day not merely your money-lender,
I am money-lender and co-proprietor, and I wish to draw out my share
in the property.
Quinola
Double man, and triple dog!
Mathieu Magis
Capital has nothing to do with faith--
Quinola
Or with hope and charity; crowns are not Catholics.
Mathieu Magis
When a man comes and asks us to discount a bill, we cannot say: "Wait
a bit; we have a man of genius at work trying to find a gold mine in a
garret or a stable!" No, indeed! Why in six months I could have
doubled those ducats over again. Besides, senor, I have a small
family.
Fontanares (to Quinola)
That creature has a wife!
Quinola
Yes, and if she brings forth young they will eat up Catalonia.
Mathieu Magis
I have heavy expenses.
Fontanares
You see how I live.
Mathieu Magis
Ah! If I were rich, I would lend you (Quinola holds out his hands) the
wherewith to live better.
Fontanares
Wait fifteen days longer.
Mathieu Magis (aside)
This cuts me to the heart. If the matter concerned only myself I would
perhaps let it go, but I must earn what has been promised me, which is
to be my daughter's dowry. (Aloud) Now really, I have a great regard
for you, you please me immensely--
Quinola (aside)
To think that it would be a crime to strangle him!
Fontanares
You are of iron; I shall show myself as hard as steel.
Mathieu Magis
What do you mean, senor?
Fontanares
You shall help me, whether you would or not.
Mathieu Magis
I will not! I want my capital! And would think nothing of seizing and
selling all this iron work.
Fontanares
You compel me to meet trick with trick. I was proceeding with my work
honestly! Now, if necessary, following your example, I shall leave the
straight path. I shall be of course accused, as if perfection could be
expected of me. But I do not mind calumny. But to have this cup to
drink is too much. You made a senseless contract with me, you now
shall sign another, or you will see me dash my work to fragments, and
keep my secret buried here. (He strikes his hand on his heart.)
Mathieu Magis
Ah! senor, you will not do that. That would be theft, a piece of
rascality of which a great man is incapable.
Fontanares
You seize upon my integrity as a weapon by which you would insure the
success of monstrous injustice.
Mathieu Magis
Listen, I wish to have nothing to do with this matter, and if you will
come to an understanding with Don Ramon, a most excellent man, I will
yield all my rights to him.
Fontanares
Don Ramon?
Quinola
Yes, the philosopher whom all Barcelona sets up in opposition to you.
Fontanares
After all, I have solved the last problem, and glory and fortune will
attend the future current of my life.
Quinola
Your words seem to indicate that there is still a part to be supplied
in the machinery.
Fontanares
A trifle--a matter of some hundred ducats.
Mathieu Magis
Such a sum could not be raised from all that you have here, if it were
sold by authority of government, counting the costs.
Quinola
Carrion! Will you get out?
Mathieu Magis
If you humor Don Ramon, he doubtless will be willing to give you the
assistance of his credit. (Turns to Quinola) As for you, gallows-bird,
if ever you fall into my hands, I will get even with you. (To
Fontanares) Good-bye, man of genius. (Exit.)
SCENE FIFTH
Fontanares and Quinola.
Fontanares
His words make me shudder.
Quinola
And me also! The good ideas of a genius are always caught in the webs
of such spiders as he.
Fontanares
Well, if only we can get a hundred ducats more, from that time forth
we shall have a golden life filled with the banquets of love. (He
takes a drink of water.)
Quinola
I quite believe you, but confess that blooming hope, that heavenly
jade, has led us on pretty deep into the mire.
Fontanares
Quinola!
Quinola
I do not complain for myself, I was born to trouble. The question is,
how are we to get the hundred ducats. You are in debt to the workmen,
to the master locksmith Carpano, to Coppolus the dealer in iron, steel
and copper, and to our landlord, who after taking us in, more from
fear of Monipodio than from compassion, will end by turning us out of
doors; we owe him for nine months' board and lodging.
Fontanares
But the work is all but finished.
Quinola
But what of the hundred ducats?
Fontanares
How is it that you, usually so brave and merry, begin now to speak to
me in such a dolorous tone?
Quinola
It is because, as a means of remaining at your side, I shall be
obliged to disappear.
Fontanares
And why?
Quinola
Why? Pray what are we to do about the sheriff? I have incurred, for
you and for myself, trade debts to the amount of a hundred doubloons;
and lo! these debts take, to my mind, the figure, face and feet of
tipstaves!
Fontanares
How much unhappiness is comprised in the term _glory_!
Quinola
Come! Do not be downcast. Did you not tell me that your grandfather
went, some fifty years ago, with Cortez, to Mexico; has he ever been
heard of?
Fontanares
Never.
Quinola
Don't forget you have a grandfather! You will be enabled to continue
your work, until you reach the day of your triumph.
Fontanares
Do you wish to ruin me?
Quinola
Do you wish to see me go to prison and your machine to the devil?
Fontanares
I do not.
Quinola
Permit me then to bring about the return of this grandfather? He will
be the first of his company to return from the West Indies.
SCENE SIXTH
The same persons and Monipodio.
Quinola
How goes it?
Monipodio
Your princess has received her letter.
Fontanares
What kind of a man is this Don Ramon?
Monipodio
He is an ass.
Quinola
Is he envious?
Monipodio
As three rejected play-writers. He makes himself out to be a wonderful
man.
Quinola
But does any one believe him?
Monipodio
They look upon him as an oracle. He scribbles off his treatises,
explaining that the snow is white because it falls from heaven, and he
maintains, in contradiction to Galileo, that the earth does not move.
Quinola
Do you not plainly see, senor, that I must rid you of this
philosopher? (To Monipodio) You come with me; you must be my servant.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE SEVENTH
Fontanares (alone)
What brain, even though it be encased in bronze, could stand the
strain of this search after money, while also making an inquiry into
the most jealously guarded secrets of nature? How can the mind,
engaged in such quests, have time for distrusting men, fighting them,
and combining others against them? It is no easy thing to see at once
what course had best be taken, in order to prevent Don Ramon from
stealing my glory, and Don Ramons abound on every side. I at last dare
to avow that my endurance is exhausted.
SCENE EIGHTH
Fontanares, Esteban, Girone and two workmen.
Esteban
Can any of you tell me where a person named Fontanares is hiding
himself?
Fontanares
He is not hiding himself. I am he; he is merely meditating in silence.
(Aside) Where is Quinola? He would know how to send them away
satisfied. (Aloud) What do you want?
Esteban
We want our money! We have been working without wages for three weeks;
the laborer lives from day to day.
Fontanares
Alas, my friends, I do not live at all!
Esteban
You are alone; you can pinch your belly. But we have wives and
children. At the present moment we have pawned everything.
Fontanares
Have confidence in me.
Esteban
Can we pay the baker with this confidence in you?
Fontanares
I am a man of honor.
Girone
Hark you! We also are men of honor.
Esteban
Take the honor of each of us to the Lombard and you will see how much
he will lend you on it.
Girone
I am not a man of talent, not I, and no one will give me trust.
Esteban
I am nothing but a villainous workman, but if my wife needs an iron
pot, I pay for it, by heaven!
Fontanares
I would like to know who it is has set you on me in this way?
Girone
Set us on? Are we dogs?
Esteban
The magistrates of Barcelona have given judgment in favor of Masters
Coppolus and Carpano, and have granted them a lien on your inventions;
pray tell us, where is our lien?
Girone
I shan't go away from this place without my money.
Fontanares
Can you find any money by staying here? However, here you may remain.
Good-day. (He takes up his hat and cloak.)
Esteban
No! You won't go out without paying us.
(The workmen prepare to bar the door.)
Girone
There is a piece which I forged myself; I am going to keep it.
Fontanares
What! You wretch! (He draws his sword.)
The Workmen
You will not make us budge.
Fontanares (rushing upon them)
Here is for you! (He stops short and throws away his sword.) Perhaps
these fellows have been sent by Avaloros and Sarpi to push me to
extremes. If they succeeded I might be accused of murder and thrown
into prison for years. (He kneels down before the Madonna.) Oh, my
God! Are genius and crime the same thing in Thy sight? What have I
done to suffer such defeats, such insults and such outrages? Must I
pay for my triumph in advance? (To the workmen) Every Spaniard is
master in his own house.
Esteban
You have no house. This place is the Golden Sun; the landlord has told
us so.
Girone
You haven't paid for your lodging; you pay for nothing.
Fontanares
Remain where you are, my masters, I was wrong; I am in debt.
SCENE NINTH
The same persons, Coppolus and Carpano.
Coppolus
Senor, I come to tell you that the magistrates of Barcelona have
granted me a lien on your machine, and I shall take measures that no
part of it leaves this place. My confrere, Carpano, your locksmith,
shares my claim.
Fontanares
What devil is blinding you? Without me, this machine is nothing but so
much iron, steel, copper and wood; with me, it represents a fortune.
Coppolus
We are not going to leave you.
(The two merchants make a movement as if to hem in Fontanares.)
Fontanares
What friend embraces you so closely as a creditor? Well, well, I wish
the devil would take back the great thought he gave me.
All
The devil!
Fontanares
Ah! I must keep watch upon my tongue or one word will throw me into
the clutches of the Inquisition! No glory can recompense me for such
sufferings as these!
Coppolus (to Carpano)
Shall we have it sold?
Fontanares
But to be worth anything, the machine must be finished, and one piece
of it is wanting, of which the model is before you. (Coppolus and
Carpano consult together.) Two hundred sequins more would be required
for its completion.
SCENE TENTH
The same persons, Quinola (disguised as a fantastic old man),
Monipodio (fancifully dressed), the landlord of the Golden Sun.
The Landlord of the Golden Sun (pointing to Fontanares)
Senor, that is he.
Quinola
And so you have lodged the grandson of General Fontanares in a stable!
The republic of Venice will set him in a palace! My dear boy, let me
embrace you. (He steps up to Fontanares.) The most noble republic has
learned of your promises to the king of Spain, and I have left the
arsenal at Venice, over which I preside, in order that--(aside to
Fontanares) I am Quinola.
Fontanares
Never was an ancestor restored to life more opportunely--
Quinola
In what a miserable condition I find you!--Is this then the
antechamber of glory!
Fontanares
Misery is the crucible in which God tests our strength.
Quinola
Who are these people?
Fontanares
Creditors and workmen clamoring for their wages.
Quinola (to the landlord)
Rascal of a landlord, is this the dwelling-place of my grandson?
The Landlord
Certainly, your excellency.
Quinola
I have some knowledge of the laws of Catalonia, and I shall send for
the magistrate to put these rogues in prison. You may call down the
bailiffs upon my grandson, but keep to your own houses, you
blackguards! (He fumbles in his pocket.) Stay! Now go and drink my
health. (He throws money among them.) Come to me later on and you
shall be paid.
The Workmen
Long live his excellency! (Exeunt.)
Quinola (to Fontanares)
Our last doubloon! But it was a good bluff.
SCENE ELEVENTH
The same persons, without the host and the workmen.
Quinola (to the two tradesmen)
As for you, my good fellows, you seem to be made of better stuff, and
by the intervention of a little money we can come to a settlement.
Coppolus
Yes, we shall then, your excellency, be at your service.
Quinola
Do I see here, my son, that famous invention about which Venice is so
excited? Where is the plan, the elevation, the section, the working
drawings of the machine?
Coppolus (to Carpano)
He knows all about it, but we must get further information before
advancing anything.
Quinola
You are an amazing man, my son! Like Columbus, you will yet have your
day. (He kneels.) I thank God for the honor He had done our family.
(To the merchants) Two hours from this I will pay you.
(Exeunt Coppolus and Carpano.)
SCENE TWELFTH
Quinola, Fontanares and Monipodio.
Fontanares
What will be the result of this imposture?
Quinola
You were tottering on the brink of an abyss, and I rescued you.
Monipodio
It was well impersonated! But the Venetians have abundance of money,
and in order to obtain three months' credit, we must throw dust into
the eyes of the creditors, and this is the most expensive kind of
dust.
Quinola
Didn't I tell you that there was a treasure coming? Well it's here
now.
Monipodio
Coming of its own accord?
(Quinola assents with a nod.)
Fontanares
His effrontery terrifies me.
SCENE THIRTEENTH
The same persons, Mathieu Magis and Don Ramon.
Mathieu Magis
I have brought Don Ramon to you, for I wish to do nothing without his
sanction.
Don Ramon (to Fontanares)
Senor, I am delighted at this opportunity of sharing the work of so
eminent a man of science. We two will be enabled to bring your
invention to the highest perfection.
Quinola
Senor knows mechanics, ballistics, mathematics, dioptrics, catoptrics,
statistics?
Don Ramon
Indeed I do. I have purchased many valuable treatises.
Quinola
In Latin?
Don Ramon
No, in Spanish.
Quinola
No true philosopher, senor, writes in anything but Latin. There is a
danger that science may be vulgarized. Do you know Latin?
Don Ramon
Yes, senor.
Quinola
So much the better for you.
Fontanares
Senor, I respect the name which you have made; but I cannot accept
your offer, because of the dangers attendant on my enterprise; I am
risking my head in this work and yours is too precious to be exposed.
Don Ramon
Do you think, senor, that you can afford to slight Don Ramon, the
great scientific authority?
Quinola
Don Ramon! The famous Don Ramon, who has expounded the causes of so
many natural phenomena, which hitherto had been thought to happen
without cause?
Don Ramon
The very man.
Quinola
I am Fontanaresi, director of the arsenal of the Venetian Republic,
and grandfather of our inventor. My son, you may have full confidence
in Don Ramon; a man of his position can have no designs upon you; let
us tell him everything.
Don Ramon (aside)
Ah! I am going to learn everything about the machine.
Fontanares (aside to Quinola)
What is all this about?
Quinola (aside to Fontanares)
Let me give him a lesson in mathematics; it will do him no good, and
us no harm. (To Don Ramon) Will you come here? (He points out the
parts of the machine) All this is meaningless; for philosophers, the
great thing--
Don Ramon
The great thing?
Quinola
Is the problem itself! You know the reason why clouds mount upwards?
Don Ramon
I believe it is because they are lighter than the air.
Quinola
Not at all! They are heavy as well as light, for the water that is in
them ends by falling as flat as a fool. I don't like water, do you?
Don Ramon
I have a great respect for it.
Quinola
I see that we are made for each other. The clouds rise to such a
height, because they are vapor, and are also attracted by the force of
the cold upper air.
Don Ramon
That may be true. I will write a treatise on the subject.
Quinola
My grandson states this in the formula R plus O. And as there is much
water in the air, we simply say O plus O, which is a new binomial.
Don Ramon
A new binomial!
Quinola
Yes, an X, if you like it better.
Don Ramon
X, ah yes, I understand!
Fontanares (aside)
What a donkey!
Quinola
The rest is a mere trifle. The tube receives the water which by some
means or other, has been changed to cloud. This cloud is bound to rise
and the resulting force is immense.
Don Ramon
Immense, why immense?
Quinola
Immense--in that it is natural, since man--pay particular attention to
this--does not create force--
Don Ramon
Very good, then how--?
Quinola
He borrows it from nature; to invent, is to borrow. Then--by means of
certain pistons--for in mechanics--you know--
Don Ramon
Yes, senor, I know mechanics.
Quinola
Very good! The method of applying a force is child's play, a trifle, a
matter of detail, as in the turnspit--
Don Ramon
Ah! He employs the turnspit then?
Quinola
There are two here, and the force is such that it raises the
mountains, which skip like rams--as was predicted by King David.
Don Ramon
Senor, you are perfectly right, the clouds, that is, the water--
Quinola
Water, senor? Why! It is the world. Without water, you could not--That
is plain. Well now! This is the point on which my grandson's invention
is based; water will subdue water. X equals O plus O, that is the
complete formula.
Don Ramon (aside)
The terms he employs are incomprehensible.
Quinola
Do you understand me?
Don Ramon
Perfectly.
Quinola (aside)
This man is a driveling dotard. (Aloud) I have spoken to you in the
language of genuine philosophy--
Mathieu Magis (to Monipodio)
Can you tell me who this remarkably learned man is?
Monipodio
He is a very great man, to whom I am indebted for my knowledge of
ballistics; he is the director of the Venetian arsenal, and purposes
this evening to make us a contribution on behalf of the republic.
Mathieu Magis
I must go and tell Senora Brancadori, she comes from Venice. (Exit.)
SCENE FOURTEENTH
The same persons, with the exception of Mathieu Magis. Lothundiaz and
Marie.
Marie
Am I in time?
Quinola (aside)
Hurrah! Here comes our treasure.
(Lothundiaz and Don Ramon exchange greetings and examine the pieces of
machinery in the centre of the stage.)
Fontanares
What! Is Marie here?
Marie
My father brought me. Ah! my dear friend, your servant told me of your
distress--
Fontanares (to Quinola)
You scoundrel!
Quinola
What, grandson!
Marie
And he brought all my agonies to an end.
Fontanares
Tell me, pray, what was it troubled you?
Marie
You cannot imagine the persecutions I have endured since your arrival,
and especially since your quarrel with Madame Brancadori. What could I
do against the authority of my father? It is absolute. While I
remained at home, I doubted my power to help you; my heart was yours
in spite of everything, but my bodily presence--
Fontanares
And so you are another martyr!
Marie
By delaying the day of your triumph, you have made my position
intolerable. Alas! when I see you here, I perceive that you yourself
at the same time have been enduring incredible hardships. In order
that I might be with you for a moment, I have feigned an intention of
vowing myself to God; this evening I enter a convent.
Fontanares
A convent? Is that the way they would separate us? These tortures make
one curse the day of his birth. And you, Marie, you, who are the
mainspring and the glory of my discovery, the star that protected my
destiny, I have forced you to seek refuge in heaven! I cannot stand up
against that. (He weeps.)
Marie
But by promising to enter a convent, I obtained my father's permission
to come here. I wish in bidding you farewell to bring you hope. Here
are the savings of a young girl, of your sister, which I have kept
against the day when all would forsake you.
Fontanares
And what care I for glory, for fortune, for life itself, without you?
Marie
Accept the gift which is all that the woman who intends to be your
wife can and ought to offer. If I feel that you are unhappy and in
distress, hope will forsake me in my retirement, and I shall die,
uttering a last prayer for you!
Quinola (to Marie)
Let him play the proud man, we may save him in spite of himself. Do
you know it is for this purpose that I am passing myself off as his
grandfather?
(Marie gives her purse to Quinola.)
Lothundiaz (to Don Ramon)
So you do not think much of him?
Don Ramon
Oh, no, he is an artisan, who knows nothing and who doubtless stole
his secret in Italy.
Lothundiaz
I have always doubted him, and it seems I was right in refusing him my
daughter in marriage.
Don Ramon
He would bring her to beggary. He has squandered five thousand
sequins, and has gone into debt three thousand in eight months,
without attaining any result! Ah! He is a contrast with his
grandfather. There's a philosopher of the first rank for you!
Fontanares will have to work hard to catch up with him. (He points to
Quinola.)
Lothundiaz
His grandfather?
Quinola
Yes, senor, my name of Fontanares was changed to that of Fontanaresi.
Lothundiaz
And you are Pablo Fontanaresi?
Quinola
Yes, Pablo himself.
Lothundiaz
And you are rich?
Quinola
Opulent.
Lothundiaz
That delights me, senor. I suppose that now you will pay me the two
thousand sequins which you borrowed from my father?
Quinola
Certainly, if you can show me my signature, I am ready to pay the
bond.
Marie (after a conversation with Fontanares)
You will accept this--will you not--as a means of securing your
triumph, for is not our happiness staked on that?
Fontanares
To think that I am dragging down this pearl into the gulf which is
yawning to receive me.
(Quinola and Monipodio depart.)
SCENE FIFTEENTH
The same persons and Sarpi.
Sarpi (to Lothundiaz)
You here, Senor Lothundiaz? And your daughter too?
Lothundiaz
I promised that she should come her to say farewell on condition that
she would not refuse to retire to a convent afterwards.
Sarpi
The assembly here is so numerous that I am not surprised, nor in the
least offended, by your complaisance towards her.
Fontanares
Ah! Here comes the fiercest of my persecutors. How are you, senor; are
you come to put my constancy to a fresh test?
Sarpi
I represent the viceroy of Catalonia, senor, and I have a right to
your respectful treatment. (To Don Ramon) Are you satisfied with him?
Don Ramon
If he takes my advice, we are sure of success.
Sarpi
The viceroy has great hopes from your learned co-operation.
Fontanares
Surely I am dreaming! Is it possible they are raising up a rival to
me?
Sarpi
No! senor; but a guide who is able to save you from failure.
Fontanares
Who told you I needed one?
Marie
O Alfonso! But suppose that Don Ramon could insure your success?
Fontanares
Ah! Even she has lost confidence in me!
Marie
They say he is so learned!
Lothundiaz
Presumptuous man! He thinks that he knows more than all the learned in
the world.
Sarpi
I was induced to come here on account of a question which has been
raised and has filled the viceroy with anxiety; you have had in your
possession for nearly ten months a ship belonging to the state, and
you must now render an account of the loan.
Fontanares
The king fixed no term for the time of my experiments.
Sarpi
The administration of Catalonia has the right to demand an account,
and we have received a decree of the ministers to this effect.
(Fontanares appears thunderstruck.) Oh! you can take your time; we do
not wish to embarrass a man like you. Nor are we inclined to think
that you wish to elude the stipulation with regard to your life by
keeping the ship for an indefinite period.
Marie
His life?
Fontanares
Yes, I am staking my life in these experiments.
Marie
And yet, you refuse my help?
Fontanares
In three months, Count Sarpi, I shall have completed, without the
counsel of another, the work I am engaged upon. You will then see one
of the greatest spectacles that a man can produce for his age to
witness.
Sarpi
Here, then, is a bond to that effect; sign it.
(Fontanares signs it.)
Marie
Farewell, my friend! If you are vanquished in this struggle I believe
that I shall love you more than ever!
Lothundiaz
Come, my daughter; the man is mad.
Don Ramon
Young man! be sure to read my treatises.
Sarpi
Farewell, future grandee of Spain.
(Exeunt all except Fontanares.)
SCENE SIXTEENTH
Fontanares (alone in the front of the stage)
While Marie is in a convent the sunlight cannot warm me. I am bearing
up a world, yet fear I am no Titian. No, I shall never succeed; all is
against me. And this work which cost me three years of thought and ten
months of toil will never cleave the ocean! But now, I am heavy with
sleep. (He lies down on the straw.)
SCENE SEVENTEENTH
Fontanares (asleep), Quinola and Monipodio (entering by the Postern).
Quinola
Diamonds! Pearls and gold! We are saved.
Monipodio
Don't forget. The Brancadori is from Venice.
Quinola
Then I'd better be getting back there. Send me the landlord; I wish to
re-establish our credit.
Monipodio
He is here.
SCENE EIGHTEENTH
The same persons and the Landlord of the Golden Sun.
Quinola
What is this, senor, Landlord of the Golden Sun? You don't seem to
have much confidence in the star of my grandson?
The Landlord
A hostelry, senor, is not a banking house.
Quinola
No, but you should not, for charity's sake, have refused him bread.
The most noble republic of Venice sent me to bring him to that city,
but he is too fond of Spain! I return, as I arrived, secretly. I have
nothing with me that I can dispose of excepting this diamond. A month
from this time I will remit to you through the bank. Will you arrange
with my grandson's servant for the sale of this jewel?
The Landlord
Your people here, senor, shall be treated like princes of wealth.
Quinola
You may go.
(Exit landlord.)
SCENE NINETEENTH
The same persons, excepting the landlord.
Quinola
I must go and change my dress. (He looks at Fontanares) He sleeps;
that noble heart has at last succumbed to its emotions; it is only we
who know how to yield before misfortunes; our carelessness he cannot
share. Have I not done well, in always obtaining a duplicate of that
which he required? (To Monipodio) Here is the plan of the last piece;
do you take charge of it.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE TWENTIETH
Fontanares (sleeping), Faustine and Mathieu Magis.
Mathieu Magis
There he is!
Faustine
To what a plight have I reduced him! From the depth of the wounds
which I have thus inflicted upon myself, I realize the depth of my
love! Oh! how much happiness do I owe him in compensation for so much
suffering!
Curtain to the Third Act.