SCENE FIRST
(The setting is the terrace of the town-hall of Barcelona, on each
side of which are pavilions. The terrace looks on the sea and ends in
a balcony in the centre of the stage; the open sea and the masts of
vessels form the scenery. At the right of the spectator appear a large
arm-chair and seats set before a table. The murmur of an immense crowd
is heard. Leaning over the balcony Faustine gazes at the steamship.
Lothundiaz stands on the left, in a condition of utter stupefaction;
Don Fregose is seated on the right with his secretary, who is drawing
up a formal account of the experiment. The Grand Inquisitor is
stationed in the middle of the stage.)
Lothundiaz, the Grand Inquisitor and Don Fregose.
Don Fregose
I am undone, ruined, disgraced! Even if I were to fall at the feet of
the king, I should gain no pity from him.
Lothundiaz
At what price have I purchased my patent of nobility! My son has been
killed in an ambuscade in Flanders, and my daughter is dying; her
husband, the governor of Roussillon, refused her permission to be
present at the triumph of this devil of a Fontanares. How well she
spoke when she said that I should repent of my willful blindness!
The Grand Inquisitor (to Don Fregose)
The Holy Office has reminded the king of your past services; you will
be sent as viceroy to Peru, where you will be able to repair your
fortunes; but first finish your work here; let us crush this
discoverer and check the progress of his dangerous innovation.
Don Fregose
But how can we do so? The orders of the king must be obeyed, at least
ostensibly.
The Grand Inquisitor
We have taken such measures that obedience may be rendered both to the
Holy Office and to the king. You have only to do as you are bidden.
(To Lothundiaz) Count Lothundiaz, as the first municipal officer of
Barcelona, you must offer to Don Ramon, in the name of the city, a
crown of gold in honor of his discovery, whose result will secure to
Spain the domination of the sea.
Lothundiaz (in astonishment)
To Don Ramon!
The Grand Inquisitor and Don Fregose
To Don Ramon.
Don Fregose
You must address a eulogy to him.
Lothundiaz
But--
The Grand Inquisitor
It is the wish of the Holy Office that you do so.
Lothundiaz (kneeling)
Pardon!
Don Fregose
What is that the people are calling out?
(A cry is heard, "Long live Don Ramon!")
Lothundiaz
Long live Don Ramon! Yes, indeed, and so much the better, for I shall
be avenged for the wrong which I have done to myself.
SCENE SECOND
The same persons, Don Ramon, Mathieu Magis, the landlord of the Golden
Sun, Coppolus, Carpano, Esteban, Girone, and all the people.
(All form a semicircle, in the centre of which is Don Ramon.)
The Grand Inquisitor
In the name of the king of Spain, Castile and the Indies, I must
express to you, Don Ramon, the congratulations of all upon the success
of your mighty genius. (He leads him to the arm-chair.)
Don Ramon
After all, he is but the hand, I am the head. The original idea is
superior to the work of realizing it. (To the crowd) In such a moment
as this, modesty would be an insult to the honors which I have
attained through midnight vigils, and a man should openly show himself
proud of his achievement.
Lothundiaz
In the name of the city of Barcelona, Don Ramon, I have the honor to
offer you this crown, due to your perseverance, as the author of an
invention which will give you immortality.
SCENE THIRD
The same persons and Fontanares (his garments soiled with the work of
his experiment).
Don Ramon
I accept these honors, on condition that they be shared by the
courageous artisan who has so well assisted me in my enterprise.
Faustine
What modesty!
Fontanares
Is this meant for a joke?
All
Long live Don Ramon!
Coppolus
In the name of the merchants of Catalonia, Don Ramon, we have come to
beg your acceptance of this silver crown, a token of their gratitude
for a discovery which is likely to prove a new source of prosperity to
them.
All
Long live Don Ramon!
Don Ramon
It is with the keenest pleasure that I see that commerce recognizes
the future developments of steam navigation.
Fontanares
Let my laborers come forth! You, the children of the people, whose
hands have completed my work, bear witness for me! It was from me only
that you received the models. Say now, whether it was Don Ramon or I
who originated the new power which the sea has felt to-day?
Esteban
By my faith, you would have been in a pretty fix without Don Ramon!
Mathieu Magis
It was two years ago, in the course of a conversation with Don Ramon,
that he begged me to furnish funds for this experiment.
Fontanares (to Fregose)
My lord, what strange delusion has fallen upon the people and
burgesses of Barcelona? I arrive here in the midst of the acclamations
with which Don Ramon is being greeted. Yes, I arrive bearing the
traces of the vigils and sweat of this great enterprise, and I find
you contentedly sanctioning the most shameful act of robbery that can
be perpetrated in the face of heaven and earth. (Murmurs from the
crowd.) Alone and unprotected I have risked my life on this
enterprise. I was the first who pledged its accomplishment to the
king, and unaided I have kept my pledge, and yet here in my place I
find Don Ramon--an ignoramus.
(More crowd murmurs.)
Don Fregose
An old soldier knows very little about scientific matters and must
accept plain facts. All Catalonia conceded to Don Ramon the priority
in this invention, and everybody here declares that without him you
would have accomplished nothing. It is my duty to inform his majesty,
the king, of these circumstances.
Fontanares
The priority! Where are the proofs of this?
The Grand Inquisitor
They are as follows: In his treatise on the casting of cannons Don
Ramon speaks of a certain invention called Thunder, made by Leonardo
da Vinci, your master, and says that it might be applied to the
navigation of a ship.
Don Ramon
Ah! young man, acknowledge that you had read my treatises!
Fontanares (aside)
I would sacrifice all my glory for one hour of vengeance!
SCENE FOURTH
The same persons and Quinola.
Quinola (aside to Fontanares)
Senor, the fruit was too fair, and a worm has been found in it!
Fontanares
What do you mean?
Quinola
Hell has belched back upon us, I know not how--Monipodio, all on fire
for revenge; he is on board the ship with a band of devils, and swears
to scuttle it, unless you guarantee him ten thousand sequins.
Fontanares (kneels)
Thanks, thanks for that. O ocean, whom I once longed to subdue, thou
art the sole protector that is left to me; thou shalt keep my secret
to eternity! (To Quinola) See that Monipodio steers for the open sea
and there scuttles the ship.
Quinola
What is this? Do I understand you aright? Which of us two has lost his
head?
Fontanares
Do as I bid you.
Quinola
But, my dear master--
Fontanares
My life and yours are equally at stake.
Quinola
Obey, without understanding why? For the first time I'll risk it.
(Exit.)
SCENE FIFTH
The same persons, with the exception of Quinola.
Fontanares (to Don Fregose)
My lord! Putting aside the question of priority, which can easily be
decided, may I be permitted to withdraw my name from this debate,
begging of you to accept the statement which is here drawn up and
contains the justification before the king our master?
Don Ramon
You acknowledge then my claim?
Fontanares
I will acknowledge anything you like, even to the point that O plus O
is a binomial!
Don Fregose (after consulting with the Grand Inquisitor)
Your demand is perfectly legitimate; we will forward a copy of your
statement, preserving here the original.
Fontanares
I have, then, escaped with my life. Let me ask all of you here
present, if you look upon Don Ramon as the real inventor of the vessel
which has been propelled by steam before the eyes of two hundred
thousand Spaniards?
All
We do.
(Quinola makes his appearance.)
Fontanares
Very good. Don Ramon has accomplished this prodigy. Don Ramon can
begin his work again. (A loud explosion is heard.) The prodigy is no
longer in existence. The employment of such a force is not without
danger, and the danger which Don Ramon had not foreseen, has
manifested itself, at the very moment while Don Ramon was receiving
your congratulations! (Cries in the distance; everybody rushes to the
balcony and gazes seaward.) I am avenged!
Don Fregose
What will the king say?
The Grand Inquisitor
France is all ablaze, the low countries in revolt, Calvin is stirring
up all Europe; the king has too much business on his hands to worry
himself about the loss of a ship. This new invention and the
Reformation would have been too much at one time for the world! Now
for some years the rapacity of maritime peoples has been checked.
(Exeunt omnes.)
SCENE SIXTH
Quinola, Fontanares and Faustine.
Faustine
Alfonso, I have done you much wrong.
Fontanares
Marie is dead, senora; I do not know the meaning of the words right
and wrong, nowadays.
Quinola
There is a man for you.
Faustine
Forgive me, and I will devote myself to your future.
Fontanares
Forgiveness! That word has been erased from my heart. There are
situations in which the heart either breaks or turns to bronze. I am
scarcely twenty-five years old, but to-day you have changed me into a
man of fifty. You have lost to me one world, now you owe me another--
Quinola
Let us turn our attention to politics.
Faustine
And is not my love, Alfonso, worth a world?
Fontanares
Yes, for you are a magnificent instrument of ruin and devastation. Yet
it will be by means of you that I shall crush all those who have been
an obstacle in my pathway; I take you, not for my wife, but for my
slave, and you shall serve me.
Faustine
Serve you blindly.
Fontanares
But without hope that there will be any return--need I say of what?
All here (he strikes his hand upon his heart) is of bronze. You have
taught me what this world is made of. O world of self-interest, of
trickery, of policy and of perfidy, I defy you to the combat!
Quinola
Senor?
Fontanares
What is it?
Quinola
Am I in it with you?
Fontanares
You? You are the only one who has still a place in my heart. We three
will stand together; we will go--
Faustine
Where?
Fontanares
We will go to France.
Faustine
Let us start at once; I know these Spaniards, and they are sure to
plot your death.
Quinola
The resources of Quinola are at the bottom of the sea. Be kind enough
to excuse his faults; he will doubtless do better at Paris. Verily, I
believe that hell is paved with good inventions.
Final Curtain.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Resources of Quinola, by Honore de Balzac