The Resources Of Quinola Part 4

Fontanares I am wrong. I would give back to G.o.d the thought which G.o.d has sent to me.

The Grand Inquisitor G.o.d did not send it to you that it might be hidden, and we have the right to force you to divulge it. (To his familiar) Bid them prepare the rack.

Fontanares I was expecting it.

SCENE ELEVENTH

The Grand Inquisitor, Fontanares, Quinola and the Duke of Olmedo.

Quinola It isn't a very healthy thing, this torture.

Fontanares Quinola! And in what a livery!

Quinola The livery of success, for you are to be freed.

Fontanares Free? And to pa.s.s from h.e.l.l to heaven in an instant?

The Duke of Olmedo As martyrs do.

The Grand Inquisitor Sir, do you dare to say such words in this place!

The Duke of Olmedo I am charged by the king to take out of your custody this man, and will answer for him to the Holy Inquisition.

The Grand Inquisitor What a mistake!

Quinola Ah! you would like to boil him in your cauldrons of oil! Many thanks!

His cauldrons are going to carry us 'round the world--like this. (He twirls his hat.)

Fontanares Embrace me, my friend, and tell me how--

The Duke of Olmedo Say not a word here--

Quinola Yes (he points to the Inquisitor), for here the walls have ears. Come.

And you (speaking to the duke) take courage. You are pale, and I must give to you a tinge of color; but I know how to do it.

(Scene curtain.)

SCENE TWELFTH

(Palace gallery as in first scene.)

The Duke of Olmedo, the Duke of Lerma, Fontanares and Quinola.

The Duke of Olmedo We have come just in time!

The Duke of Lerma You were not wounded then?

The Duke of Olmedo Who said I was? Would the favorite of the king ruin me? And should I be here, as you see me, if I were dead? (To Quinola) Stand close and hold me up.

Quinola (to Fontanares) This is a man worthy of your love.

Fontanares Who would not envy such a one? Yet how seldom is occasion given to show one's love.

Quinola Spare us, good sir, all this rigmarole about love, in the presence of the king; for the king, hark you--

A page The King!

Fontanares Come on, and let all our thoughts be for Marie!

Quinola (noticing that the Duke of Olmedo is fainting) How are you? (He puts a flask to his nostrils.)

SCENE THIRTEENTH

The same persons, the King, the Queen, the Captain of the Guards, the Grand Inquisitor, the Marchioness of Mondejar, the President of the Council of Castile and the whole court.

Philip II. (to the Captain of the Guards) Has our man arrived?

The Captain The Duke of Olmedo, whom I met on the palace steps, has at once obeyed the commands of the king.

The Duke of Olmedo (falling on one knee) Will the king deign to pardon a delay--unpardonable?

Philip II. (raising him by his wounded arm) I was told you were dying--(he glances at the marchioness)--of a wound received in a nocturnal attack.

The Duke of Olmedo Well, you see me here, sire, a sufficient answer.

The Marchioness (aside) He is rouged!

Philip II. (to the duke) Where is your prisoner?

The Duke of Olmedo (pointing to Fontanares) Yonder he stands.

Fontanares (kneeling) And ready, to the great glory of G.o.d, to do wonders which shall add splendor to the reign of the king, my master.

Philip II.

Rise up and speak to me; what is this force miraculous which shall give to Spain the empire of the world?

Fontanares It is a force invincible, sire. It is steam; for, when water has become expanded in steam, it demands a much more extensive area than that which it occupies in its natural form; and in order to take that s.p.a.ce it would blow up mountains. By my invention this force is confined; the machine is provided with wheels, which beat the sea and propel a vessel as swiftly as the wind, so that tempests cannot resist its course. Voyages can be made in safety and so swiftly that there is no limit to speed excepting in the revolution of the wheels. Human life is lengthened every time a moment is economized. Sire, Christopher Columbus gave to you a world three thousand leagues across the ocean; I will bring one to you at the port of Cadiz, and you shall claim, with the a.s.sistance of G.o.d, the dominion of the sea.

The Queen You do not seem to be astonished, sire?

Philip II.

Astonishment is involuntary flattery, and kings may never flatter. (To Fontanares) What do you ask of me?

Fontanares That which Columbus asked, a s.h.i.+p and the presence of my king to witness the experiment.