Fontanares After listening to such words as these, what martyr would not receive new courage at the stake?
The same persons and Lothundiaz.
LothundiazThat cursed duenna has left my door open.
Monipodio (aside) Alas, those poor children are ruined! (To Lothundiaz) Alms is a treasure which is laid up in heaven.
Lothundiaz Go to work, and you can lay up treasures here on earth. (He looks round) I do not see my daughter and her duenna in their usual place.
Monipodio (to Lothundiaz)The Spaniard is by nature generous.
Lothundiaz Oh! get away! I am a Catalonian and suspicious by nature. (He catches sight of his daughter and Fontanares.) What do I see? My daughter with a young senor! (He runs up to them) It is hard enough to pay duennas for guarding children with the heart and eyes of a mother without finding them deceivers. (To his daughter) How is it that you, Marie, heiress of ten thousand sequins a year, should speak to—do my eyes deceive me? It is that blasted machinist who hasn't a maravedi.
(Monipodio makes signs to Quinola.)
MarieAlfonso Fontanares is without fortune; he has seen the king.
LothundiazSo much the worst for the king.
Fontanares Senor Lothundiaz, I am quite in a position to aspire to the hand of your daughter.
LothundiazAh!
FontanaresWill you accept for your son-in-law the Duke of Neptunado, grandee ofSpain, and favorite of the king?
(Lothundiaz pretends to look for the Duke of Neptunado.)
MarieBut it is he himself, dear father.
Lothundiaz You, whom I have known since you were two foot high, whose father used to sell cloth—do you take me for a fool?
The same persons, Quinola and Dona Lopez.
QuinolaWho said fool?
Fontanares As a present upon our wedding, I will procure for you and for my wife a patent of nobility; we will permit you to settle her fortune by entail upon your son—
MarieHow is that, father?
QuinolaHow is that, sir?
LothundiazWhy! This is that brigand of a Lavradi!
QuinolaMy master has won from the king an acknowledgment of my innocence.
Lothundiaz To obtain for me a patent of nobility cannot then be a difficult matter.
Quinola And do you really think that a townsman can be changed into a nobleman by letters-patent of the king! Let us make the experiment. Imagine for a moment that I am the Marquis of Lavradi. My dear duke, lend me a hundred ducats?
Lothundiaz A hundred cuts of the rod! A hundred ducats! It is the rent of a piece of property worth two thousand gold doubloons.
Quinola There! I told you so—and that fellow wishes to be ennobled! Let us try again. Count Lothundiaz, will you advance two thousand doubloons in gold to your son-in-law that he may fulfill his promises to the King of Spain?
Lothundiaz (to Fontanares)But you must tell me what you have promised.
FontanaresThe King of Spain, learning of my love for your daughter, is coming toBarcelona to see a ship propelled without oars or sails, by a machineof my invention, and will himself honor our marriage by his presence.
Lothundiaz (aside) He is laughing at me. (Aloud) You are very likely to propel a ship without sails or oars! I hope you will do it; I'll go to see it. It would amuse me, but I don't wish to have for a son-in-law any man of such lofty dreams. Girls brought up in our families need no prodigies for husbands, but men who are content to mind their business at their own homes, and leave the affairs of the sun and moon alone. All that I want is that my son-in-law should be the good father of his family.
Fontanares Your daughter, senor, when she was but twelve years old, smiled on me as Beatrice smiled on Dante. Child as she was, she saw in me at first naught but a brother; since then, as we felt ourselves separated by fortune, she has watched me as I formed that bold enterprise which should bridge with glory the gulf that stood between us. It was for her sake I went to Italy and studied with Galileo. She was the first to applaud my work, the first to understand it. She had wedded herself to my thought before it had occurred to her that one day she might wed herself to me. It is thus she has become the whole world to me. Do you now understand how I adore her?
Lothundiaz It is just for that reason that I refuse to give her to you. In ten years' time she would be deserted, that you might run after some other discovery.
Marie Is it possible, father, that a lover could prove false to a love which has spurred him on to work such wonders?
LothundiazYes, when he can work them no longer.
MarieIf he should become a duke, grandee of Spain, and wealthy?
Lothundiaz If! If! If! Do you take me for an imbecile? These ifs are the horses that drag to the hospital all these sham world-discoverers.
Fontanares But here are the letters in which the king grants to me the use of a ship.
Quinola Now open your eyes! My master is at once a man of genius and a handsome youth; genius dulls a man and makes him of no use in a home, I grant you; but the handsome youth is there still; what more is needed by a girl for happiness?
Lothundiaz Happiness does to consist in these extremes. A handsome youth and a man of genius,—these, forsooth, are fine reasons for pouring out the treasures of Mexico. My daughter shall be Madame Sarpi.
The same persons, and Sarpi (on the balcony).
Sarpi (aside) Some one uttered my name. What do I see? It is the heiress and her father! What can they be doing in the square at this hour?
Lothundiaz Sarpi has not gone to look for a ship in the harbor of Valladolid, but he gained promotion for my son.
Fontanares Do not, Lothundiaz, merely for the sake of your son's advancement, dispose of your daughter's hand without my consent; she loves me and I love her in return. In a short time I shall be (Sarpi appears) one of the most influential men in Spain, and powerful enough to reap my vengeance—
MarieOh! not upon my father!
FontanaresTell him then Marie, all that I am doing to deserve you.
Sarpi (aside)What! A rival?
Quinola (to Lothundiaz)Sir, if you don't consent, you are in a fair way to be damned.
LothundiazWho told you that?
QuinolaAnd worse than that,—you are going to be robbed; this I'll swear to.
Lothundiaz To prevent my either being robbed or damned I am keeping my daughter for a man who may not have genius, but who has common sense—
FontanaresAt least you will give me time—
SarpiWhy give him time?
Quinola (to Monipodio)Who can that be?
MonipodioSarpi.
QuinolaWhat a bird of prey he looks!
MonipodioAnd he is as difficult to kill. He is the real governor of Barcelona.
Lothundiaz My respects to you, honorable secretary! (To Fontanares) Farewell, my friend, your arrival is an excellent reason why I should hurry on the wedding. (To Marie) Come, my daughter, let us go in. (To the duenna) And you, old hag, you'll have to pay for this.
Sarpi (to Lothundiaz)This hidalgo seems to have pretensions—
Fontanares (to Sarpi)Nay, I have a right!
(Exeunt Marie, the duenna and Lothundiaz.)
Monipodio, Sarpi, Fontanares and Quinola.
Sarpi A right? Do you know that the nephew of Fra Paolo Sarpi, kinsman of the Brancadori, count in the Kingdom of Naples, secretary to the viceroy of Catalonia, makes pretension to the hand of Marie Lothundiaz? When another man claims a right in the matter he insults both her and me.
Fontanares Do you know that I for five years, I, Alfonso Fontanares, to whom the king our master has promised the title of Duke of Neptunado and Grandee, as well as the Golden Fleece, have loved Marie Lothundiaz, and that your pretensions, made in spite of the oath which she has sworn to me, will be considered, unless you renounce them, an insult both by her and by me?
Sarpi I did not know, my lord, that I had so great a personage for a rival. In any case, future Duke of Neptunado, future Grandee, future Knight of the Golden Fleece, we love the same woman; and if you have the promise of Marie, I have that of her father; you are expecting honors, while I possess them.
Fontanares Now, listen; let us remain just where we are; let us not utter another word; do not insult me even by a look. Had I a hundred quarrels, I would fight with no one until I had completed my enterprise and answered successfully the expectation of my king. When that moment comes, I will fight singled-handed against all. And, when I have ended the conflict, you will find me—close to the king.
SarpiOh! we are not going to lose sight of each other.
The same persons, Faustine, Don Fregose and Paquita.
Faustine (on the balcony) Tell me what is going on, my lord, between that young man and your secretary? Let us go down.
Quinola (to Monipodio) Don't you think that my master has pre-eminently the gift of drawing down the lightning on his own head?
MonipodioHe carries his head so high!
Sarpi (to Don Fregose) My lord, there has arrived in Catalonia a man upon whom the king our master has heaped future honors. According to my humble opinion, he should be welcomed by your excellency in accordance with his merits.
Don Fregose (to Fontanares)Of what house are you?
Fontanares (aside) How many sneers, such as this, have I not been forced to endure! (Aloud) The king, your excellency, never asked me that question. But here is his letter and that of his ministers. (He hands him a package.)
Faustine (to Paquita)That man has the air of a king.
PaquitaOf a king who will prove a conqueror.
Faustine (recognizing Monipodio)Monipodio! Do you know who that man is?
Monipodio He is a man who, according to rumor, is going to turn the world upside down.
FaustineAh! I see; it is that famous inventor of whom I have heard so much.
MonipodioAnd here is his servant.
Don Fregose Sarpi, you may file these ministerial documents; I will keep that of the king. (To Fontanares) Well, my fine fellow, the letter of the king seems to me to be positive. You are undertaking, I see, to achieve the impossible! However great you may be, perhaps it would be well for you to take the advice, in this affair, of Don Ramon, a philosopher of Catalonia who, on this subject, has written some famous treatises—
Fontanares In a matter of this kind, your excellency, the finest dissertations in the world are not worth so much as a practical achievement.
Don Fregose That sounds presumptuous. (To Sarpi) Sarpi, you must place at the disposal of this gentleman whatever vessel in the harbor he may choose.
Sarpi (to the viceroy)Are you quite sure that such is the king's wish?
Don Fregose We shall see. In Spain it is best to say apaternosterbetween every two steps we take.
SarpiOther letters on the same subject have reached us from Valladolid.
Faustine (to the viceroy)What are you talking about?
Don FregoseOh, it is nothing but a chimera.
FaustineBut don't you know that I am rather fond of chimeras?
Don Fregose This is the chimera of some philosopher which the king has taken seriously on account of the disaster of the Armada. If this gentleman succeeds, we shall have the court at Barcelona.
FaustineWe shall be much indebted to him for that.
Don Fregose He has staked his life on a commission to propel a vessel, swift as the wind, yet straight in the wind's eye, without the employment of either oars or sails.
FaustineStaked his life? He must be a child to do so.
Sarpi Alfonso Fontanares reckons that the performance of this miracle will win for him the hand of Marie Lothundiaz.
FaustineAh! He loves her then—
Quinola (whispering to Faustine)No, senora, he adores her.
FaustineThe daughter of Lothundiaz!
Don FregoseYou seem suddenly to feel a great interest in him.
Faustine I hope the gentleman may succeed, if it were only for the purpose of bringing the court here.
Don FregoseSenora, will you not come and take luncheon at the villa of Avaloros?A vessel is at your service in the harbor.
Faustine No, my lord, the night of pleasure has wearied me, and a sail would prove too much. I am not obliged, like you, to be indefatigable; youth loves sleep, give me leave then to retire and take a little rest.
Don Fregose You never say anything to me but that your words contain some innuendo.
FaustineYou ought to be grateful that I do not take you seriously!
(Exeunt Faustine, the Viceroy and Paquita.)
Avaloros, Quinola, Monipodio, Fontanares and Sarpi.
Sarpi (to Avaloros)It is too late for a sail.
AvalorosI do not care; I have won ten crowns in gold.
(Sarpi and Avaloros talk together.)
Fontanares (to Monipodio)Who is this person?
Monipodio It is Avaloros, the richest banker of Catalonia; he has bought the whole Mediterranean to be his tributary.
QuinolaI feel my heart filled with tenderness towards him.
MonipodioEvery one of us owns him as our master.
Avaloros (to Fontanares) Young man, I am a banker; if your business is a good one, next to the protection of God and that of the king, nothing is as good as that of a millionaire.
Sarpi (to the banker) Make no engagements at present. You and I together will easily be able to make ourselves masters of this enterprise.
Avaloros (to Fontanares)Very well, my friend, you must come to see me.
(Monipodio secretly robs him of his purse.)
Monipodio, Fontanares and Quinola.
Quinola (to Fontanares)Are you making a good beginning here?
MonipodioDon Fregose is jealous of you.
QuinolaSarpi is bent on defeating your enterprise.
Monipodio You are posing as a giant before dwarfs who are in power! Before you put on these airs of pride, succeed! People who succeed make themselves small, slip into small openings and glide inward to the treasure.
QuinolaGlory? But my dear sir, it can only be obtained by theft.
FontanaresDo you wish me to abase myself?
MonipodioYes, in order that you may gain your point.
Fontanares Pretty good for a Sarpi! I shall make an open struggle for it. But what obstacle do you see between success and me? Am I not on my way to the harbor to choose a fine galleon?
QuinolaAh! I am superstitious on that point. Sir, do not choose the galley!
FontanaresI see no reason why I shouldn't.
Quinola You have had no experience! You have had something else to make discoveries about. Ah, sir, we are moneyless, without credit at any inn, and if I had not met this old friend who loves me, for there are friends who hate you, we should have been without clothes—
Fontanares But she loves me! (Marie waves her handkerchief at the window.) See, see, my star is shining!
Quinola Why, sir, it is a handkerchief! Are you sufficiently in your right mind to take a bit of advice? This is not the sort of madonna for you; you need a Marchioness of Mondejar—one of those slim creatures, clad in steel, who through love are capable of all the expedients which distress makes necessary. Now the Brancadori—
Fontanares If you want me to throw the whole thing up you will go on talking like that! Bear that in mind; love gives the only strength I have. It is the celestial light that leads me on.
QuinolaThere, there, do not excite yourself.
Monipodio This man makes me anxious! He seems to me rather to be possessed by the machinery of love than by the love of machinery.
The same persons and Paquita.
Paquita (to Fontanares)My mistress bids me tell you, senor, that you must be on your guard.You are the object of implacable hatred to certain persons.
Monipodio That is my business. You may go without fear through all the streets of Barcelona; if any one seeks your life, I shall be the first to know it.
FontanaresDanger! Already?
PaquitaYou have given me no answer for her.
Quinola No, my pet, people don't think about two machines at the same time; tell your divine mistress that my master kisses her feet. I am a bachelor, sweet angel, and wish to make a happy end.
(He kisses her.)
Paquita (slapping him in the face)You fool!
QuinolaOh, charming!
(Exit Paquita.)
Fontanares, Quinola and Monipodio.
MonipodioCome to the Golden Sun. I know the host; you will get credit there.
QuinolaThe battle is beginning even earlier than I had expected.
FontanaresWhere shall I obtain money?
QuinolaWe can't borrow it, but we can buy it. How much do you need?
FontanaresTwo thousand doubloons in gold.
Quinola I have been trying to make an estimate of the treasury I intended to draw upon; it is not plump enough for that.
MonipodioWell, now, I have found a purse.
Quinola Forget nothing in your estimate; you will require, sir, iron, copper, steel, wood, all of which the merchants can supply. I have an idea! I will found the house of Quinola and Company; if they don't prosper you shall.
FontanaresAh! what would have become of me without you?
MonipodioYou would have been the prey of Avaloros.
FontanaresTo work, then! The inventor must prove the salvation of the lover.
(Exeunt.)
Curtain to the First Act.
(A room in the palace of Senora Brancadori.)
Avaloros, Sarpi and Paquita.
AvalorosIs the queen of our lives really ill?
PaquitaShe is melancholy.
AvalorosIs thought, then, a malady?
PaquitaYes, and you therefore can be sure of good health.
Sarpi Say to my dear cousin that Senor Avaloros and I are awaiting her good pleasure.
Avaloros Stay; here are two ducats if you will say that I am sometimes pensive—
Paquita I will say that your tastes are expensive. But I must go and induce the senora to dress herself. (Exit.)
Avaloros and Sarpi.
SarpiPoor viceroy! He is the youngster.
Avaloros While your little cousin is making a fool of him, you are displaying all the activity of a statesman and clearing the way for the king's conquest of French Navarre. If I had a daughter I would give her to you. Old Lothundiaz is no fool.
Sarpi How fine it would be to be founder of a mighty house; to win a name in the history of the country; to be a second Cardinal Granville or Duke of Alva!
Avaloros Yes! It would be a very fine thing. I also think of making a name. The emperor made the Fuggers princes of Babenhausen; the title cost them a million ducats in gold. For my part, I would like to be a nobleman at a cheaper rate.
SarpiYou! How could you accomplish it?
AvalorosThis fellow Fontanares holds the future of commerce in his own hands.
Sarpi And is it possible that you who cling so persistently to the actual have any faith in him?
Avaloros Since the invention of gunpowder, of printing and the discovery of the new world I have become credulous. If any one were to tell me that a man had discovered the means to receive the news from Paris in ten minutes, or that water contained fire, or that there are still new Indies to discover, or that it is possible to travel through the air, I would not contradict it, and I would give—
SarpiYour money?
AvalorosNo; my attention to the enterprise.
SarpiIf the vessel is made to move in the manner proposed, you would likethen to be to Fontanares what Amerigo Vespucci was to ChristopherColumbus.
AvalorosHave I not here in my pocket enough to pay for six men of genius?
SarpiBut how would you manage the matter?
Avaloros By means of money; money is the great secret. With money to lose, time is gained; and with time to spend, everything is possible; by this means a good business may be made a bad one, and while those who control it are in despair the whole profit may be carried off by you. Money,—that is the true method. Money furnishes the satisfaction of desire, as well as of need. In a man of genius, there is always a child full of unpractical fancies; you deal with the man and you come sooner or later on the child; the child will become your debtor, and the man of genius will go to prison.
SarpiAnd how do you stand with him now?
Avaloros He does not trust my offers; that is, his servant does not. I shall negotiate with the servant.
Sarpi I understand you; I am ordered to send all the ships of Barcelona to the coasts of France; and, through the prudence of the enemies which Fontanares made at Valladolid, this order is absolute and subsequent to the king's letter.
AvalorosWhat do you want to get out of the deal?
Sarpi The functions of the Grand Master of Naval Construction—these I wish to be mine.
AvalorosBut what is your ultimate object?
SarpiGlory.
AvalorosYou rascally trickster!
SarpiYour greedy extortioner!
Avaloros Let us hunt together; it will be time enough to quarrel when we come to the division of the prey. Give me your hand. (Aside) I am the stronger, and I control the viceroy through the Brancadori.
Sarpi (aside) We have fattened him sufficiently, let us kill him; I know how to destroy him.
Avaloros We must gain over this Quinola to our interests, and I have sent for him to hold a conference with the Brancadori.
The same persons and Quinola.
Quinola I hang between two thieves. But these thieves are powdered over with virtue and tricked out with fine manners. And they would like to hang the rest of us!
Sarpi You rogue, while you are waiting for your master to propel the galleys by new methods, you ought to be rowing in them yourself.
Quinola The king, who justly appreciates my merits, well understands that he would lose too much by such an arrangement.
SarpiYou shall be watched!
QuinolaThat I can well believe, for I keep watch on myself.
Avaloros (to Sarpi)You are rousing his suspicions, for he is an honest lad. (To Quinola)Come my good fellow, have you any idea of what is meant by wealth?
QuinolaNo, for I have seen it from too great a distance.
AvalorosSay, such a sum as two thousand golden doubloons?
Quinola What? I do not know what you mean! You dazzle me. Is there such a sum? Two thousand doubloons! That means to be a land-holder, to own a house, a servant, a horse, a wife, an income; to be protected instead of being chased by the Holy Brotherhood!—What must I do to gain it?
Avaloros You must assist me in obtaining a contract for the mutual advantage of your master and myself.
Quinola I understand! To tangle him up. O my conscience, that is very fine! But, dear conscience, be silent for a while; let me forget you for a few days, and we will live comfortably together for the rest of my life.
Avaloros (to Sarpi)We have him.
Sarpi (to Avaloros)He is fooling us! If he were in earnest he would not talk thus.
Quinola I suppose you won't give me the two thousand doubloons in gold until after the treaty has been signed.
Sarpi (with eagerness)You can have it before.
QuinolaYou don't mean it! (Holding out his hand) Give it me then.
Avaloros As soon as you sign notes of hand for the amounts which have already matured.
Quinola The Grand Turk himself never offered the bowstring with greater delicacy.
SarpiHas your master got his ship?
Quinola Valladolid is at some distance from this, I admit; but we control in that city a pen which has the power of decreeing your disgrace.
SarpiI will grind you to powder.
QuinolaI will make myself so small that you can't do it.
AvalorosAh! you scoundrel, what do you propose to do?
QuinolaTo talk to you about the gold.
The same persons, Faustine and Paquita.
PaquitaGentlemen, here is the senora. (Exit.)
The same persons, with the exception of Paquita.
Quinola (approaching the Brancadori) Senora, my master talks of killing himself unless he can obtain the ship which Count Sarpi has refused for thirty days to give him; Senor Avaloros asks for his life while offering him his purse; do you understand? (Aside) A woman was our salvation at Valladolid; the women shall be our salvation at Barcelona. (Aloud) He is very despondent.
AvalorosThe wretched man seems daring enough.
QuinolaDaring without money is naturally amazing to you.
Sarpi (to Quinola)Will you enter my service?
QuinolaI am too set in my ways to take a master.
Faustine (aside)He is despondent! (Aloud) Why is it that men like you, Sarpi andAvaloros, for whom I have done so much, should persecute, instead ofprotecting, the poor man of genius who has so lately arrived among us?(Avaloros and Sarpi are confused.) I cry shame upon you! (To Quinola)You must explain to me exactly their schemes against your master.
Sarpi (to Faustine)My dear cousin, it does to need much penetration to divine what maladyit is under which you have labored since the arrival of thisFontanares.
Avaloros (to Faustine) You owe me, senora, two thousand doubloons, and you will need to draw still further on my purse.
FaustineI? What have I ever asked of you?
Avaloros Nothing, but you never refuse anything which I am generous enough to offer you.
FaustineYour monopoly of the wheat trade is a monstrous abuse.
AvalorosSenora, I owe you a thousand doubloons.
Faustine Write me at once a receipt for the two thousand doubloons, and a check for the like sum which I do not intend to pay you. (To Sarpi) After having put you in the position in which you now flourish, I warn you that your best policy is to keep my secret.
SarpiMy obligations to you are too great to admit of my being ungrateful.
Faustine (aside) He means just the contrary, and he will make the viceroy furious with me.
(Exit Sarpi.)
The same persons, with the exception of Sarpi.
AvalorosHere they are, senora. (Handing her the receipt and the check.)
FaustineVery good.
AvalorosWe shall be friends?
FaustineYour monopoly of the wheat trade is perfectly legal.
AvalorosAh! senora.
Quinola (aside)That is what is called doing business.
AvalorosSenora, you are a noble creature, and I am—
Quinola (aside)A regular swindler.
Faustine (offering the check to Quinola)Here, Quinola, this is for the expenses of your master's machine.
Avaloros (to Faustine) Don't give it to him, senora, he may keep it for himself, and for other reasons you should be prudent; you should wait—
Quinola (aside)I pass from the torrid to the arctic zone; what a gamble is life!
Faustine You are right. (Aside) Better that I should hold in a balance the fortune of Fontanares. (To Avaloros) If you wish to keep your monopoly hold your tongue.
Avaloros There is nothing keeps a secret better than capital. (Aside) These women are disinterested until the day they fall in love. I must try to defeat her; she is beginning to cost me too much. (Exit.)
Faustine and Quinola.
FaustineDid you not tell me he was despondent?
QuinolaEverything is against him.
FaustineBut he knows how to wrestle with difficulties.
Quinola We have been for two years half drowned in difficulties; sometimes we have gone to the bottom and the gravel was pretty hard.
FaustineBut what force of character, what genius he has!
QuinolaYou see, there, senora, the effects of love.
FaustineAnd with whom is he in love now?
QuinolaStill the same—Marie Lothundiaz.
FaustineA doll!
QuinolaYes, nothing but a doll.
FaustineMen of talent are all like that.
QuinolaColossal creatures with feet of clay!
Faustine They clothe with their own illusions the creature that entangles them; they love their own creation; they are egotists!
Quinola (aside) Just like the women! (Aloud) Listen, senora, I wish that by some honest means we could bury this doll in the depths of the—that is—of a convent.
FaustineYou seem to me to be a fine fellow.
QuinolaI love my master.
FaustineDo you think that he has noticed me?
QuinolaNot yet.
FaustineSpeak to him of me.
Quinola But then, he would speak to me by breaking a stick across my back. You see, senora, that girl—
FaustineThat girl ought to be forever lost to him.
QuinolaBut he would die, senora.
FaustineHe must be very much in love with her.
Quinola Ah! that is not my fault! All the way here from Valladolid I have a thousand times argued the point, that a man like he ought to adore women, but never to love an individual woman! Never—
Faustine You are a pretty worthless rascal! Go and tell Lothundiaz to come and speak with me and to bring his daughter with him. (Aside) She shall be put in a convent.
Quinola (aside) She is the enemy. She loves me so much that she can't help doing us a great deal of harm. (Exit.)
Faustine and Fregose.
Fregose While you expect the master, you spend your time in corrupting the servant.
FaustineCan a woman ever lose her habit of seduction?
FregoseSenora, you are ungenerous; I should think that a patrician lady ofVenice would know how to spare the feelings of an old soldier.
Faustine Come, my lord, you presume more upon your white hair than a young man would presume upon his fairest locks, and you find in them a stronger argument than in—(She laughs). Let me have no more of this petulance.
Fregose How can I be otherwise than vexed when you compromise yourself thus, you, whom I wish to be my wife? Is it nothing to have a chance of bearing one of the noblest of names?
FaustineDo you think it is too noble for a Brancadori?
FregoseYet, you would prefer stooping to a Fontanares!
Faustine But what if he could raise himself as high as to a Brancadori? That would be a proof of love indeed! Besides, as you know from your own experience, love never reasons.
FregoseAh! You acknowledge that!
Faustine Your friendship to me is so great that you have been the first to learn my secret.
Fregose Senora! Yes, love is madness! I have surrendered to you more than myself! Alas, I wish I had the world to offer you. You evidently are not aware that your picture gallery alone cost me almost all my fortune.
FaustinePaquita!
FregoseAnd that I would surrender to you even my honor.
The same persons and Paquita.
Faustine (to Paquita) Tell my steward that the pictures of my gallery must immediately be carried to the house of Don Fregose.
FregosePaquita, do not deliver that order.
Faustine The other day, they tell me, the Queen Catherine de Medici sent an order to Diana of Poitiers to deliver up what jewels she had received from Henry II.; Diana sent them back melted into an ingot. Paquita, fetch the jeweler.
FregoseYou will do nothing of the kind, but leave the room.
(Exit Paquita.)
The same persons, with the exception of Paquita.
Faustine As I am not yet the Marchioness of Fregose, how dare you give your orders in my house?
FregoseI am quite aware of the fact that here it is my duty to receive them.But is my whole fortune worth one word from you? Forgive an impulse ofdespair.
Faustine One ought to be a gentleman, even in despair; and in your despair you treat Faustine as a courtesan. Ah! you wish to be adored, but the vilest Venetian woman would tell you that this costs dear.
FregoseI have deserved this terrible outburst.
Faustine You say you love me. Love me? Love is self-devotion without the hope of recompense. Love is the wish to live in the light of a sun which the lover trembles to approach. Do not deck out your egotism in the lustre of genuine love. A married woman, Laura de Nova, said to Petrarch, "You are mine, without hope—live on without love." But when Italy crowned the poet she crowned also his sublime love, and centuries to come shall echo with admiration to the names of Laura and Petrarch.
Fregose There are very many poets whom I dislike, but the man you mention is the object of my abomination. To the end of the world women will throw him in the face of those lovers whom they wish to keep without taking.
FaustineYou are called general, but you are nothing but a soldier.
FregoseIndeed, and how then shall I imitate this cursed Petrarch?
Faustine If you say you love me, you will ward off from a man of genius—(Don Fregose starts)—yes, there are such—the martyrdom which his inferiors are preparing for him. Show yourself great, assist him! I know it will give you pain, but assist him; then I shall believe you love me, and you will become more illustrious, in my sight at least, by this act of generosity than by your capture of Mantua.
Fregose Here, in your presence, I feel capable of anything, but you cannot dream of the tempest which will fall upon my head, if I obey your word.
FaustineAh! you shrink from obeying me!
FregoseProtect him, admire him, if you like; but do not love him!
Faustine The ship given him by the king has been held back; you can restore it to him, in a moment.
FregoseAnd I will send him to give you the thanks.
FaustineDo it! And learn how much I love you.
(Exit Don Fregose.)
Faustine (alone)And yet so many women wish that they were men.
Faustine, Paquita, Lothundiaz and Marie.
PaquitaSenora, here are Senor Lothundiaz and his daughter. (Exit.)
The same persons, excepting Paquita.
LothundiazAh! senora, you have turned my palace into a kingdom!
Faustine (to Marie)My child, seat yourself by me. (To Lothundiaz) Be seated.
Lothundiaz You are very kind, senora; but permit me to go and see that famous gallery, which is spoken of throughout Catalonia.
(Faustine bows assent and Lothundiaz leaves the room.)
Faustine and Marie.
Faustine My child, I love you and have learned of the position in which you stand. Your father wishes you to marry my cousin Sarpi, while you are in love with Fontanares.
MarieAnd have been for five years, senora.
FaustineAt sixteen one knows not what it is to love.
MarieWhat does that matter, if I love him?
FaustineWith us, sweet girl, love is but self-devotion.
MarieI will devote myself to him, senora.
FaustineWhat! Would you give him up if that were for his interest?
MarieThat would be to die, but yet my life is wholly his.
Faustine (aside as she rises from her seat) What strength in weakness and innocence! (Aloud) You have never left your father's house, you know nothing of the world nor of its hardships, which are terrible! A man often dies from having met with a woman who loves him too much, or one who loves him not at all; Fontanares may find himself in this situation. He has powerful enemies; his glory, which is all he lives for, is in their hands; you may disarm them.
MarieWhat must I do?
Faustine By marrying Sarpi, you will assure the triumph of your dear Fontanares; but no woman would counsel such a sacrifice; it must come, it will come from you. At first you must dissemble. Leave Barcelona for a time. Retire to a convent.
Marie And never see him again? Ah! If you knew—he passes every day at a certain hour under my windows, and that hour is all the day to me.
Faustine (aside)She stabs me to the heart! Oh! She shall be Countess Sarpi.
The same persons and Fontanares.
Fontanares (to Faustine)Senora. (He kisses her hand.)
Marie (aside)What a pang I feel!
Fontanares Shall I live long enough to testify my gratitude to you? If I achieve anything, if I make a name, if I attain to happiness, it will be through you.
Faustine Why that is nothing! I merely tried to smooth the way for you. I feel such pity for men of talent in misfortune that you may ever count upon my help. Yes, I would go so far as to be the mere stepping-stone over which you might climb to your crown.
Marie (drawing Fontanares by his mantle)But I am here, I (he turns around), and you never saw me.
Fontanares Marie! I have not spoken to you for ten days! (To Faustine) Oh! senora, what an angel you are!
Marie (to Fontanares) Rather say a demon. (Aloud) The senora was advising me to retire to a convent.
FontanaresShe!
MarieYes.
FaustineChildren that you are, that course were best.
Fontanares I trip up, it seems, on one snare after another, and kindness ever conceals a pitfall. (To Marie) But tell me who brought you here?
MarieMy father!
FontanaresHe! Is he blind? You, Marie, in this house!
FaustineSir!
Fontanares To a convent indeed, that she might dominate her spirit, and torture her soul!
The same persons and Lothundiaz.
Fontanares And it was you who brought this angel of purity to the house of a woman for whom Don Fregose is wasting his fortune and who accepts from him the most extravagant gifts without marrying him?
FaustineSir!
Fontanares You came here, senora, widow of a cadet of the house of Brancadori, to whom you sacrificed the small fortune your father gave you; but here you have utterly changed—
FaustineWhat right have you to judge my actions?
Lothundiaz Keep silence, sir; the senora is a high born lady, who has doubled the value of my palace.
FontanaresShe! Why she is a—
FaustineSilence!
Lothundiaz My daughter, this is your man of genius! Extreme in everything, but leaning rather to madness than good sense. Senor Mechination, the senora is the cousin and protector of Sarpi.
FontanaresWell, take your daughter away from the house of the Marchioness ofMondejar of Catalonia.
(Exeunt Lothundiaz and Marie.)
Faustine and Fontanares.
Fontanares So, senora, your generosity was merely a trick to serve the interests of Sarpi! We are quits then! And so farewell. (Exit.)
Faustine and Paquita.
FaustineHow handsome he looked in his rage, Paquita!
PaquitaAh! senora, what will become of you if you love him in this way?
Faustine My child, I feel that I have never loved before, and in an instant I have been transformed as by a stroke of lightning. In one moment I have loved for all lost time! Perhaps I have set my foot upon the path which leads to an abyss. Send one of my servants to the house of Mathieu Magis, the Lombard.
(Exit Paquita.)
Faustine (alone) I already love him too much to trust my vengeance to the stiletto of Monipodio, for he has treated me with such contempt that I must bring him to believe that the greatest honor he could win would be to have me for his wife! I wish to see him groveling at my feet, or I will perish in the attempt to bring him there.
Faustine and Fregose.
Fregose What is this? I thought to find Fontanares here, happy in the possession of the ship you gained for him.
Faustine You have given it to him then, and I suppose hate him no longer. I thought the sacrifice would be above your strength, and wished to know if hate were stronger than obedience.
FregoseAh! senora—
FaustineCould you take it back again?
FregoseWhether obedient or disobedient, I cannot displease you. Good heavens!Take back the ship! Why, it is crowded with artisans who are itsmasters.
FaustineYou never know what I want, and what I do not want.
FregoseHis death?
FaustineNo, but his disgrace.
FregoseAnd in that I shall avenge myself for a whole month of anguish.
FaustineTake care to keep your hands off what is my prey. And first of all,Don Fregose, take back your pictures from my gallery. (Don Fregoseshows astonishment). It is my will.
FregoseYou refuse then to be marchioness of—
Faustine They shall be burned upon the public square or sold, and the price given to the poor.
FregoseTell me, what is your reason for this?
FaustineI thirst for honor and you have ruined mine.
FregoseAccept my name and all will be well.
FaustineLeave me, I pray you.
FregoseThe more power you have, the more you abuse it. (Exit.)
Faustine (alone) So, so! I am nothing then but the viceroy's mistress! He might as well have said as much! But with the aid of Avaloros and Sarpi I intend to have a pretty revenge—one worthy of old Venice.
Faustine and Mathieu Magis.
Mathieu MagisI am told the senora has need of my poor services.
FaustinePray tell me, who are you?
Mathieu MagisMathieu Magis, a poor Lombard of Milan, at your service.
FaustineYou lend money?
Mathieu Magis I lend it on good security—diamonds or gold—a very poor business. Our losses are overwhelming, senora. And at present money seems actually to be asleep. The raising of maravedis is the hardest of farm-labor. One unfortunate deal carries off the profits of ten lucky strokes, for we risk a thousand doubloons in the hands of a prodigal for three hundred doubloons profit. The world is very unjust to us.
FaustineAre you a Jew?
Mathieu MagisIn what sense do you mean?
FaustineIn religion.
Mathieu MagisI am a Lombard and a Catholic, senora.
FaustineYou disappoint me.
Mathieu MagisSenora would have wished—
FaustineI would have wished that you were in the clutches of the Inquisition.
Mathieu MagisWhy so?
FaustineThat I might be certain of your fidelity.
Mathieu MagisI keep many secrets in my strong box, senora.
FaustineIf I had your fortune in my power—
Mathieu MagisYou would have my soul.
Faustine (aside) The only way to gain this man's adherence is by appealing to his self-interest, that is plain. (Aloud) You lend—
Mathieu MagisAt twenty per cent.
Faustine You don't understand what I mean. Listen; you are lending the use of your name to Senor Avaloros.
Mathieu MagisI know Senor Avaloros. He is a banker; we do some business together,but his name in the city stands too high and his credit in theMediterranean is too sound for him to need the help of poor MathieuMagis—
Faustine I see, Lombard, you are very cautious. If you wish to lend your name to promote an important business undertaking—
Mathieu MagisIs it smuggling?
Faustine What difference does it make? The question is, what would guarantee your absolute silence?
Mathieu MagisHigh profit.
Faustine (aside) This is a rare hunting dog. (Aloud) Very well, I am going to entrust you with a secret of life and death, for I purpose giving up to you a great man to devour.
Mathieu Magis My small business feeds on the great passions of life; (aside) where there is a fine woman, there is a fine profit.
Curtain to the Second Act.
(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!
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.
QuinolaHe 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.
QuinolaZounds!
Monipodio Thirty rascals built like those fellows eat as much as sixty ordinary men.
QuinolaQuinola and Company have failed, and I am a fugitive!
MonipodioFrom 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.
MonipodioPayment? 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.)
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!
FontanaresI 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.
FontanaresYou 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.
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 MagisI am your most humble servant, my dear Senor Fontanares.
QuinolaThis is he, polished, dry, cold as marble.
FontanaresGood-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.
FontanaresI have never seen the other.
Mathieu MagisI have a heart, away from my business.
FontanaresBut you are never away from your business.
Mathieu MagisI am always filled with admiration at the sight of your struggle.
FontanaresAdmiration 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—
QuinolaOn the condition, that you were to receive five thousand in return.
FontanaresWell?
Mathieu MagisThe 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 MagisI did it without thought of annoying you, merely as a formality.
FontanaresAnd what do you want now?