The Resources Of Quinola Part 9

Marie Alfonso Fontanares is without fortune; he has seen the king.

Lothundiaz So much the worst for the king.

Fontanares Senor Lothundiaz, I am quite in a position to aspire to the hand of your daughter.

Lothundiaz Ah!

Fontanares Will you accept for your son-in-law the Duke of Neptunado, grandee of Spain, and favorite of the king?

(Lothundiaz pretends to look for the Duke of Neptunado.)

Marie But 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?

SCENE TWELFTH

The same persons, Quinola and Dona Lopez.

Quinola Who said fool?

Fontanares As a present upon our wedding, I will procure for you and for my wife a patent of n.o.bility; we will permit you to settle her fortune by entail upon your son--

Marie How is that, father?

Quinola How is that, sir?

Lothundiaz Why! This is that brigand of a Lavradi!

Quinola My master has won from the king an acknowledgment of my innocence.

Lothundiaz To obtain for me a patent of n.o.bility cannot then be a difficult matter.

Quinola And do you really think that a townsman can be changed into a n.o.bleman 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 enn.o.bled! 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.

Fontanares The King of Spain, learning of my love for your daughter, is coming to Barcelona to see a s.h.i.+p propelled without oars or sails, by a machine of 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 s.h.i.+p 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?

Lothundiaz Yes, when he can work them no longer.

Marie If 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 s.h.i.+p.

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.

SCENE THIRTEENTH

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 s.h.i.+p 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--

Marie Oh! not upon my father!

Fontanares Tell 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 d.a.m.ned.

Lothundiaz Who told you that?

Quinola And worse than that,--you are going to be robbed; this I'll swear to.

Lothundiaz To prevent my either being robbed or d.a.m.ned I am keeping my daughter for a man who may not have genius, but who has common sense--

Fontanares At least you will give me time--

Sarpi Why give him time?

Quinola (to Monipodio) Who can that be?

Monipodio Sarpi.