Mathieu MagisYou 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 MagisAs 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!
FontanaresAh! I begin to breathe freely.
Mathieu MagisThat 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 sharein the property.
QuinolaDouble man, and triple dog!
Mathieu MagisCapital has nothing to do with faith—
QuinolaOr 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!
QuinolaYes, and if she brings forth young they will eat up Catalonia.
Mathieu MagisI have heavy expenses.
FontanaresYou 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.
FontanaresWait 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!
FontanaresYou are of iron; I shall show myself as hard as steel.
Mathieu MagisWhat do you mean, senor?
FontanaresYou 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.
FontanaresDon Ramon?
QuinolaYes, 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.
FontanaresA 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.
QuinolaCarrion! 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.)
Fontanares and Quinola.
FontanaresHis 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.
FontanaresQuinola!
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.
FontanaresBut the work is all but finished.
QuinolaBut 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.
FontanaresAnd 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!
FontanaresHow much unhappiness is comprised in the termglory!
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?
FontanaresNever.
Quinola Don't forget you have a grandfather! You will be enabled to continue your work, until you reach the day of your triumph.
FontanaresDo you wish to ruin me?
QuinolaDo you wish to see me go to prison and your machine to the devil?
FontanaresI 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.
The same persons and Monipodio.
QuinolaHow goes it?
MonipodioYour princess has received her letter.
FontanaresWhat kind of a man is this Don Ramon?
MonipodioHe is an ass.
QuinolaIs he envious?
Monipodio As three rejected play-writers. He makes himself out to be a wonderful man.
QuinolaBut 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.
QuinolaDo you not plainly see, senor, that I must rid you of thisphilosopher? (To Monipodio) You come with me; you must be my servant.(Exeunt.)
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.
Fontanares, Esteban, Girone and two workmen.
Esteban Can any of you tell me where a person named Fontanares is hiding himself?
FontanaresHe is not hiding himself. I am he; he is merely meditating in silence.(Aside) Where is Quinola? He would know how to send them awaysatisfied. (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.
FontanaresAlas, 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.
FontanaresHave confidence in me.
EstebanCan we pay the baker with this confidence in you?
FontanaresI am a man of honor.
GironeHark 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.
GironeI 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!
FontanaresI would like to know who it is has set you on me in this way?
GironeSet us on? Are we dogs?
EstebanThe magistrates of Barcelona have given judgment in favor of MastersCoppolus and Carpano, and have granted them a lien on your inventions;pray tell us, where is our lien?
GironeI shan't go away from this place without my money.
FontanaresCan you find any money by staying here? However, here you may remain.Good-day. (He takes up his hat and cloak.)
EstebanNo! You won't go out without paying us.
(The workmen prepare to bar the door.)
GironeThere is a piece which I forged myself; I am going to keep it.
FontanaresWhat! You wretch! (He draws his sword.)
The WorkmenYou 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.
GironeYou haven't paid for your lodging; you pay for nothing.
FontanaresRemain where you are, my masters, I was wrong; I am in debt.
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.
CoppolusWe 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.
AllThe 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.
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.
FontanaresNever was an ancestor restored to life more opportunely—
Quinola In what a miserable condition I find you!—Is this then the antechamber of glory!
FontanaresMisery is the crucible in which God tests our strength.
QuinolaWho are these people?
FontanaresCreditors and workmen clamoring for their wages.
Quinola (to the landlord)Rascal of a landlord, is this the dwelling-place of my grandson?
The LandlordCertainly, 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 WorkmenLong live his excellency! (Exeunt.)
Quinola (to Fontanares)Our last doubloon! But it was a good bluff.
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.
CoppolusYes, 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.
QuinolaYou are an amazing man, my son! Like Columbus, you will yet have yourday. (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.)
Quinola, Fontanares and Monipodio.
FontanaresWhat will be the result of this imposture?
QuinolaYou 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.
MonipodioComing of its own accord?
(Quinola assents with a nod.)
FontanaresHis effrontery terrifies me.
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 RamonIndeed I do. I have purchased many valuable treatises.
QuinolaIn Latin?
Don RamonNo, 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 RamonYes, senor.
QuinolaSo 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 RamonThe 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 RamonThe great thing?
QuinolaIs the problem itself! You know the reason why clouds mount upwards?
Don RamonI 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 RamonI 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 RamonThat 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 RamonA new binomial!
QuinolaYes, an X, if you like it better.
Don RamonX, 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 RamonImmense, why immense?
Quinola Immense—in that it is natural, since man—pay particular attention to this—does not create force—
Don RamonVery 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 RamonYes, 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 RamonAh! 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 RamonSenor, 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.
QuinolaDo you understand me?
Don RamonPerfectly.
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 MagisI must go and tell Senora Brancadori, she comes from Venice. (Exit.)
The same persons, with the exception of Mathieu Magis. Lothundiaz andMarie.
MarieAm 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.)
FontanaresWhat! Is Marie here?
Marie My father brought me. Ah! my dear friend, your servant told me of your distress—
Fontanares (to Quinola)You scoundrel!
QuinolaWhat, grandson!
MarieAnd he brought all my agonies to an end.
FontanaresTell 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—
FontanaresAnd 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.
FontanaresAnd 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.)
LothundiazHis grandfather?
QuinolaYes, senor, my name of Fontanares was changed to that of Fontanaresi.
LothundiazAnd you are Pablo Fontanaresi?
QuinolaYes, Pablo himself.
LothundiazAnd you are rich?
QuinolaOpulent.
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.)
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 RamonIf he takes my advice, we are sure of success.
SarpiThe 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?
SarpiNo! senor; but a guide who is able to save you from failure.
FontanaresWho told you I needed one?
MarieO Alfonso! But suppose that Don Ramon could insure your success?
FontanaresAh! Even she has lost confidence in me!
MarieThey 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.
FontanaresThe 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.
MarieHis life?
FontanaresYes, I am staking my life in these experiments.
MarieAnd 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.
SarpiHere, 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!
LothundiazCome, my daughter; the man is mad.
Don RamonYoung man! be sure to read my treatises.
SarpiFarewell, future grandee of Spain.
(Exeunt all except Fontanares.)
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.)
Fontanares (asleep), Quinola and Monipodio (entering by the Postern).
QuinolaDiamonds! Pearls and gold! We are saved.
MonipodioDon'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.
MonipodioHe is here.
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 LandlordA 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 LandlordYour people here, senor, shall be treated like princes of wealth.
QuinolaYou may go.
(Exit landlord.)
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.)
Fontanares (sleeping), Faustine and Mathieu Magis.
Mathieu MagisThere 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.
(The stage setting represents a public square. In the centre stands a sheriff's officer on an auctioneer's block, around the base of which are the various pieces for the machine. A crowd is gathered on each side of the platform. To the left of the spectator are grouped together Coppolus, Carpano, the landlord of the Golden Sun, Esteban, Girone, Mathieu Magis, Don Ramon and Lothundiaz. To the right are Fontanares and Monipodio; Quinola conceals himself in a cloak behind Monipodio.)
Fontanares, Monipodio, Quinola, Coppolus, the landlord of the GoldenSun, Esteban, Girone, Mathieu Magis, Don Ramon, Lothundiaz, Sheriff'sOfficer, a crowd of people.
Sheriff's Officer Gentlemen, show a little more warmth. Here we have a boiler, big enough to cook a dinner for a regiment of the guards.
The LandlordFour maravedis.
Sheriff's OfficeDo I hear more? Come and look at it, examine it!
Mathieu MagisSix maravedis.
Quinola (to Fontanares)Senor, they will not fetch a hundred ducats.
FontanaresWe must try to be resigned.
Quinola Resignation seems to me to be the fourth theological virtue omitted from the list out of consideration for women!
Monipodio Hold your tongue! Justice is on your track and you would have been arrested before this if they had not taken you for one of my people.
Sheriff's OfficerThis is the last lot, gentlemen. Going, going—no further bid? Gone!It is knocked down to Senor Mathieu Magis for ten ducats, sixmaravedis.
Lothundiaz (to Don Ramon) What do you think of that? Thus ends the sublime invention of our great man! He was right, by heaven, when he promised us a rare spectacle!
CoppolusYou can laugh; he does not owe you anything.
EstebanIt is we poor devils who have to pay for his folly.
Lothundiaz Did you get nothing, Master Coppolus? And what of my daughter's diamonds, which the great man's servant put into the machine?
Mathieu MagisWhy, they were seized in my house.
Lothundiaz And are not the thieves in the hand of justice? I would like best of all to see Quinola, that cursed pilferer of jewels, in durance.
Quinola (aside) Oh, my young life, what lessons are you receiving! My antecedents have ruined me.
Lothundiaz But if they catch him, his goose will soon be cooked, and I shall have the pleasure of seeing him dangling from the gallows, and giving the benediction with his feet.
Fontanares (to Quinola)Our calamity stirs this dullard's wit.
QuinolaYou mean his brutality.
Don Ramon I sincerely regret this disaster. This young artisan had at last listened to my advice, and we were on the point of realizing the promises made by him to the king; but he blindly forfeited his opportunity; I mean to ask pardon for him at the court, for I shall tell the king how useful he will be to me.
Coppolus Here is an example of generosity extremely rare in the conduct of one learned man towards another.
LothundiazYou are an honor to Catalonia!
Fontanares (coming forward) I have endured with tranquillity the agony of seeing a piece of workmanship, which entitles me to eternal glory, sold as so much old junk—(murmurs among the people). But this passes all endurance. Don Ramon, if you have, I do not say understood, but even guessed, at the use of all these fragments of machinery, displaced and scattered as they are, you ought to have bought them even at the sacrifice of your whole fortune.
Don Ramon Young man, I respect your misfortunes; but you know that your apparatus could not possibly go, and that my experience had become necessary to you.
Fontanares The most terrible among all the horrors of destitution is that it gives ground for calumny and the triumph of fools!
Lothundiaz Is it not disgraceful for a man in your position thus to undertake to insult a philosopher whose reputation is established? Where would I be if I had given you my daughter? You would have led me a fine dance down to beggary; for you have already wasted, for absolutely no purpose, ten thousand sequins! Really this grandee of Spain seems particularly small in his grandeur to-day.
FontanaresYou make me pity you.
Lothundiaz That is possible, but you do not make me envy you; your life is at the mercy of the tribunal.
Don RamonLet him alone; don't you see that he is crazy?
FontanaresNot quite crazy enough, senor, to believe that O plus O is a binomial.
The same persons, Don Fregose, Faustine, Avaloros and Sarpi.
SarpiWe have come too late; the sale is over.
Don FregoseThe king will regret the confidence he placed in a charlatan.
Fontanares A charlatan, my lord? In a few days, you may be able to cut my head off; kill me, but don't calumniate me; your position in the state is too high for you to descend so low.
Don Fregose Your audacity equals the extent of your downfall. Are you unaware that the magistrates of Barcelona look upon you as an accomplice of the thief who robbed Lothundiaz? The flight of your servant proves the crime, and the freedom you now enjoy is due to the intercessions of this lady. (Points to Faustine.)
Fontanares My servant, your excellency, might have been in early life a criminal, but since he has followed my fortune he has been an innocent man. I declare, on my honor, that he is guiltless of any such act as theft. The jewels which were seized at the moment he was engaged in selling them were the free gift of Marie Lothundiaz, from whom I had refused to accept them.
FaustineWhat pride he shows, even in adversity! Nothing can bend him.
Sarpi And how do you explain the resurrection of your grandfather, the pretended director of the Venetian arsenal? Unfortunately for you, the senora and myself were acquainted with the actual man.
Fontanares I caused my servant to put on this disguise in order that he might talk science and mathematics with Don Ramon. Senor Lothundiaz will tell you that the philosopher of Catalonia and Quinola perfectly understood each other.
Monipodio (to Quinola)He has ruined himself!
Don RamonOn this subject I appeal to my writings.
Faustine Do not be perturbed, Don Ramon; it is so natural for people of this kind, when they find themselves falling, to drag down other people with them!
LothundiazSuch a disposition is detestable.
Fontanares Before I die I ought to speak the truth, senora, to those who have flung me into the abyss. (To Don Fregose) My lord, the king promised me the protection of his people at Barcelona, and here I have met with nothing but hatred! Oh, you grandees of the land, you rich, and all who have in your hands power and influence, why is it that you thus throw obstacles in the way of advancing thought? Is it the law of God that you should persecute and put to shame that which eventually you will be compelled to adore? Had I been pliant, abject and a flatterer, I might have succeeded! In me you have persecuted that which represents all that is noblest in man—His consciousness of his own power, the majesty of his labor, the heavenly inspiration which urges him to put his hand to enterprise, and—love, that spirit of human trust, which rekindles courage when it is on the point of expiring in the storm of mockery. Ah! If the good that you do is done amiss, you are always successful in the accomplishment of what is bad! But why should I proceed?—You are not worthy of my anger.
Faustine (aside)Oh! Another word and I must cry out that I adore him!
Don Fregose Sarpi, tell the police officers to advance and carry off the accomplice of Quinola.
(Applause and cries of "bravo!")
The same persons and Marie Lothundiaz.
(At the moment the police officers seize Fontanares, Marie appears, in the habit of a novice, accompanied by a monk and two sisters.)
Marie Lothundiaz (to the viceroy) My lord, I have just learned that in my desire to save Fontanares from the rage of his enemies I have caused his ruin. But now an opportunity is given me to vindicate the truth, and I beg to declare that I myself put into the hands of Quinola the precious stones and the money I had treasured as my own. (Lothundiaz shows some excitement.) They belonged to me, father, and God grant that you may not have cause some day to mourn your own blindness.
Quinola (throwing off his cloak)Whew! I breathe freely at last!
Fontanares (bending his knee before Marie) Thanks, radiant and spotless creature, through whose love I still am kept close to that heaven from which I draw my faith and hope; you have saved my honor.
MarieAnd is not your honor also mine? Your glory is yet to come.
Fontanares Alas! my work is dismembered and dispersed, held in a hundred avaricious hands, who will not give it back excepting at the price it cost to fabricate. To recover it I should double the amount of my indebtedness and fail to complete the enterprise in time. All is over!
Faustine (to Marie)Only sacrifice yourself for him and he is saved.
MarieWhat say you, father? And you, Count Sarpi? (Aside) It will be mydeath! (Aloud) Will you consent, on condition I obey you, to giveFontanares all that is necessary for the success of his undertaking?(To Faustine) I shall devote myself to God, senora!
Faustine You are sublime, sweet angel. (Aside) And thus at last deliverance comes to me!
Fontanares Stay, Marie! I would choose the struggle and all its perils, I would choose death itself, rather than the loss of you from such a cause.
Marie Rather than glory? (To the viceroy) My lord, you will cause my gems to be restored to Quinola. I return to my convent with a happy mind; either I am his, or I must live for God alone.
LothundiazI believe he is a sorcerer.
QuinolaThis young maiden restores to me my love for womankind.
Faustine (to Sarpi, the viceroy and Avaloros)Can we not conquer him, in spite of all?
AvalorosI shall try it.
Sarpi (to Faustine) All is not lost. (To Lothundiaz) Take your daughter home; she will soon be obedient to you.
LothundiazGod grant it! Come my daughter. (Exeunt.)
Faustine, Fregose, Avaloros, Fontanares, Quinola and Monipodio.
Avaloros I have studied you well, young man, and you have a great heart—a heart firm as steel. Steel will always be the master of gold. Let us frankly form a copartnership; I will pay your debts, buy up all that has been sold, give you and Quinola five thousand ducats, and, at my instance, the viceroy will be willing to forget your freedom with him.
FontanaresIf, in my distress, I have ever failed in respect towards you, senor,I beg you will pardon me.
Don Fregose That is quite sufficient, senor. Don Fregose does not easily take offence.
FaustineYou have done well, my lord.
Avaloros Thus you see, young man, that tempest is succeeded by calm, and at present all things smile upon you. The next thing for us to do is to unite, you and I, in fulfilling your promises to the king.
Fontanares I care not for fortune excepting for one reason; shall I be enabled to wed Marie Lothundiaz?
Don FregoseIs she the only woman in the world you love?
FontanaresThe only one.
(Faustine and Avaloros talk together.)
Don Fregose You never told me that before. Henceforth, you may count on me, young man; I am your steadfast ally. (Exit.)
MonipodioThey are coming to terms; we are ruined. I shall take myself off toFrance with the duplicate machine. (Exit.)
Quinola, Fontanares, Faustine and Avaloros.
Faustine (to Fontanares) Come, now; I also bear no malice, and you must come to the banquet I am giving.
FontanaresSenora, your first kindness concealed treachery.
Faustine Like all those lofty dreamers, who enrich humanity with their inventions, you know neither women, nor the world.
Fontanares (aside) I have scarcely eight days left. (To Quinola) I am going to make use of her.
QuinolaDo so, as you make use of me.
FontanaresI will come to your house, senora.
Faustine I must thank Quinola for that. (She offers a purse to Quinola.) Take this. (To Fontanares) Till we meet again!
(Exeunt Faustine and Avaloros.)
Fontanares and Quinola.
Fontanares That woman is treacherous as the sun in winter. Unhappy am I that I sought her, for she has taught me to lose faith. Is it possible that there are virtues which it is for our advantage to discard?
Quinola How is it possible, senor, to distrust a woman who sets in gold her slightest words! She loves you; that's the secret. Is your heart so very small that it cannot harbor two affections?
FontanaresNonsense! Marie has given me hope, her words have fired my soul. Yes,I shall succeed.
Quinola (aside) Where is Monipodio? (Aloud) A reconciliation, senor, is very easy with a woman who yields so easily as Senora Brancadori.
FontanaresQuinola!
Quinola Senor, you make me desperate! Would you oppose the perfidy of a useful love with the loyalty of a love that is blind? I need the influence of Senora Brancadori in order to get rid of Monipodio, whose intentions cause me anxiety. If only I can obtain this influence I will guarantee you success, and you shall then marry your Marie.
FontanaresBy what means?
Quinola My dear senor, by mounting on the shoulders of a man who sees a long distance, as you do, any one can see farther still. You are an inventor, very good; but I am inventive. You saved me from—I needn't say what! I, in turn, will deliver you from the talons of envy and from the clutches of cupidity. Here is gold for us; come dress yourself, make yourself fine, take courage; you are on the eve of triumph. But above all things, behave graciously towards Senora Brancadori.
FontanaresYou must at least tell me, how are you going to effect this?
Quinola No, senor, if you knew my secret, all would be ruined; you are a man of talent, and a man of talent is always simple as a child.
(Exeunt.)
(The setting represents the drawing-room in Senora Brancadori's palace.)
Faustine (alone) The hour is come, to which all my efforts for the last fourteen months have been looking for fulfillment. In a few moments Fontanares will see that Marie is forever lost to him. Avaloros, Sarpi and I have lulled the genius to forgetfulness, and have brought the man up to the very day when his experiment was to have taken place, so that he stands helpless and destitute. Oh! how totally is he in my power, just as I had wished! But does a person ever change from contempt to love? No, never. Little does he know that for a twelvemonth I have been his adversary, and the misfortune is, that when he does know he will hate me! But hatred is not the opposite of love, it is merely the obverse of the golden coin. I shall tell him everything; I shall make him hate me.
Faustine and Paquita.
PaquitaSenora, your orders have been most exactly carried out by Monipodio.Senorita Lothundiaz has just been informed by her duenna, of the perilwhich threatens Senor Fontanares this evening.
FaustineSarpi must be here by this time. Tell him I wish to speak to him.
(Exit Paquita.)
Faustine (alone) We must baffle the plans of Monipodio. Quinola fears he has received the order to get rid of Fontanares; it is too bad that there should be ground for such a fear.
Faustine and Don Fregose.
FaustineYour arrival is timely, senor, I wish to ask a favor of you.
Don FregoseSay, rather, that you wish to confer one on me.
Faustine Monipodio must disappear from Barcelona—yea, and from Catalonia, within two hours; send him to Africa.
Don FregoseWhat has he done to you?
FaustineNothing.
Don FregoseWell, what is your reason.
FaustineSimply because—You understand?
Don FregoseYour wish shall be obeyed. (He writes.)
The same persons and Sarpi.
Faustine Have you made the necessary preparations, cousin, for your immediate marriage with Marie Lothundiaz?
Sarpi I have, and her good father has taken care that the contract should be ready.
Faustine That is well! Send word to the convent of the Dominicans. The rich heiress will freely consent to be wedded to you at midnight; she will accept any conditions, when she sees (whispering to Sarpi) Fontanares in the hands of justice.
Sarpi I quite understand, and the only thing now is to have him arrested. My good fortune seems invincible! And—I owe it all to you. (Aside) What instrument is there more powerful than the hatred of a woman!
Don FregoseSarpi, see that this order is strictly carried out and with no delay.
(Exit Sarpi.)
The same persons excepting Sarpi.
Don FregoseAnd what of your own marriage?
FaustineMy lord, I can think of nothing at present except the coming banquet;you shall have my answer this evening. (Fontanares appears.) (Aside)Oh, there he comes! (To Fregose) If you love me, leave me a while.
Don FregoseAlone with him?
FaustineYes, so I desire.
Don FregoseAfter all he loves no one but his Marie Lothundiaz. (Exit.)
Faustine and Fontanares.
Fontanares The palace of the king of Spain is not more splendid than yours, senora, and you here display all the pomp of royalty.
FaustineListen to me, dear Fontanares.
FontanaresDear! Ah! senora, you have taught me to distrust such words as that!
Faustine She, whom you have so cruelly insulted, will now reveal herself to you. A terrible disaster threatens you. Sarpi has persistently worked against you and in doing so has carried out the orders of an irresistible power, and this banquet will be for you, unless I intervene, the scene of a Judas' kiss. I have been told, in confidence, that on your departure from this house, perhaps without these very walls, you will be arrested, flung into prison, and your trial will begin—never to end. Is it possible that you can put into proper condition in one night the vessel which otherwise will be forfeited to you? As regards your work, you know how impossible it is to begin it over again. I wish to save you, you and your glory, you and your fortune.
FontanaresYou save me? And how?
Faustine Avalores has placed at my disposal one of his ships, Monipodio has given me his best smugglers for a cruise; let us start for Venice. The republic will make you a patrician and will give you ten times as much gold as Spain has promised. (Aside) Why is it they do not arrive?
Fontanares And what of Marie? If we are to take her with us, I will believe in you.
Faustine Your thoughts are of her at the very moment when the choice between life and death is to be made. If you delay, we may be lost.
FontanaresWe? Senora?
The same persons. Guards rush in at every door. A magistrate appears.Sarpi.
SarpiDo your duty!
The Magistrate (to Fontanares)In the name of the king, I arrest you.
Fontanares The hour of death has come at last! Yet happily I carry my secret with me to God, and love shall be my winding sheet.
The same persons, Marie and Lothundiaz.
Marie I was not, then, deceived; you have fallen into the hands of your enemies! And what is left to me, dearest Alfonso, but to die for you —and yet, by what a frightful death! O beloved! Heaven is jealous of a perfect love, and thus would teach us by those cruel disasters, which we call the chances of life, that there is no true happiness save in the presence of God. What! You here?
SarpiSenorita!
LothundiazMy daughter!
Marie For one moment you have left me free, for the last time in my life! I shall keep my promise, you must not be unfaithful to yours. O sublime discoverer, you will have to discharge the obligations that belong to greatness, and to fight the battle of your lawful ambition! This struggle will be the great interest of your life; while the Countess Sarpi will die by inches and in obscurity, imprisoned in the four walls of her house. And now let me remind you, father, and you, count, that it was clearly agreed, as the condition of my obedience, that Senor Fontanares should be granted by the viceroy of Catalonia a further extension of time, for the completion of his experiment.
FontanaresMarie, how can I live without you?
MarieHow could you live in the hands of your executioner?
FontanaresFarewell! I am ready to die.
Marie Did you not make a solemn promise to the King of Spain, yes, to all the world? (Speaks low to Fontanares) Oh! seize your triumph; after that we can die!
FontanaresI will accept, if only you refuse to be his.
MarieFather, fulfill your promise.
FaustineI have triumphed.
Lothundiaz (in a low voice to Fontanares) You contemptible seducer! (Aloud) Here I give you ten thousand sequins. (In a low voice) Atrocious wretch! (Aloud) My daughter's income for one year. (In a low voice) May the plague choke you! (Aloud) Upon the presentation of this check, Senor Avaloros will count out to you ten thousand sequins.
FontanaresBut does the viceroy consent to this arrangement?
Sarpi You have publicly accused the viceroy of Catalonia of belying the promises of the king; here is his answer: (he draws forth a document) By this ordinance, he puts a stay on the lawsuits of all your creditors, and grants you a year to complete your experiment.
FontanaresI am ready to do so.
Lothundiaz He has made up his mind! Come, my daughter; they are expecting us at the Dominican convent, and the viceroy has promised to honor us with his presence at the ceremony.
MarieSo soon?
(Exeunt the whole party.)
Faustine (to Paquita) Run, Paquita, and bring me word when the ceremony is ended, and they are man and wife.
Faustine and Fontanares.
Faustine (aside) There he stands, like a man pausing on the brink of a precipice to which tigers have pursued him. (Aloud) Why are you not as great as your creative thought? Is there but one woman in the world?
Fontanares What! Do you think that a man can pluck from his heart a love like mine, as easily as he draws the sword from his scabbard?
Faustine I can well conceive that a woman should love you and do you service. But, according to your idea, love is self-abdication. All that the greatest men have ever wished for: glory, honor, fortune, and more than that, a triumphant dominion which genius alone can establish —this you have gained, conquering a world as Caesar, Lucullus and Luther conquered before you! And yet, you have put between yourself and this splendid existence an obstacle, which is none other than a love worthy of some student of Alcala. By birth you are a giant, and of your own will you are dwindling into a dwarf. But a man of genius can always find, among women, one woman especially created for him. And such a woman, while in the eyes of men she is a queen, for him is but a servant, adapting herself with marvelous suppleness to the chances of life, cheerful in suffering and as far-sighted in misfortune as in prosperity; above all, indulgent to his caprices and knowing well the world and its perilous changes; in a word, capable of occupying a seat in his triumphal car after having helped it up the steepest grades—
FontanaresYou have drawn her portrait.
FaustineWhose?