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The Resources of Quinola, a play by Honore de Balzac |
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Act 5 |
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_ ACT V SCENE FIRST (The setting is the terrace of the town-hall of Barcelona, on each side of which are pavilions. The terrace looks on the sea and ends in a balcony in the centre of the stage; the open sea and the masts of vessels form the scenery. At the right of the spectator appear a large arm-chair and seats set before a table. The murmur of an immense crowd is heard. Leaning over the balcony Faustine gazes at the steamship. Lothundiaz stands on the left, in a condition of utter stupefaction; Don Fregose is seated on the right with his secretary, who is drawing up a formal account of the experiment. The Grand Inquisitor is stationed in the middle of the stage.) [Lothundiaz, the Grand Inquisitor and Don Fregose.]
Lothundiaz. At what price have I purchased my patent of nobility! My son has been killed in an ambuscade in Flanders, and my daughter is dying; her husband, the governor of Roussillon, refused her permission to be present at the triumph of this devil of a Fontanares. How well she spoke when she said that I should repent of my willful blindness! The Grand Inquisitor. (to Don Fregose) The Holy Office has reminded the king of your past services; you will be sent as viceroy to Peru, where you will be able to repair your fortunes; but first finish your work here; let us crush this discoverer and check the progress of his dangerous innovation. Don Fregose. But how can we do so? The orders of the king must be obeyed, at least ostensibly. The Grand Inquisitor. We have taken such measures that obedience may be rendered both to the Holy Office and to the king. You have only to do as you are bidden. (To Lothundiaz) Count Lothundiaz, as the first municipal officer of Barcelona, you must offer to Don Ramon, in the name of the city, a crown of gold in honor of his discovery, whose result will secure to Spain the domination of the sea. Lothundiaz. (in astonishment) To Don Ramon! The Grand Inquisitor. and Don Fregose To Don Ramon. Don Fregose. You must address a eulogy to him. Lothundiaz. But-- The Grand Inquisitor. It is the wish of the Holy Office that you do so. Lothundiaz. (kneeling) Pardon! Don Fregose. What is that the people are calling out? (A cry is heard, "Long live Don Ramon!") Lothundiaz. Long live Don Ramon! Yes, indeed, and so much the better, for I shall be avenged for the wrong which I have done to myself.
SCENE SECOND [The same persons, Don Ramon, Mathieu Magis, the landlord of the Golden Sun, Coppolus, Carpano, Esteban, Girone, and all the people.] (All form a semicircle, in the centre of which is Don Ramon.)
Don Ramon. After all, he is but the hand, I am the head. The original idea is superior to the work of realizing it. (To the crowd) In such a moment as this, modesty would be an insult to the honors which I have attained through midnight vigils, and a man should openly show himself proud of his achievement. Lothundiaz. In the name of the city of Barcelona, Don Ramon, I have the honor to offer you this crown, due to your perseverance, as the author of an invention which will give you immortality.
SCENE THIRD [The same persons and Fontanares (his garments soiled with the work of his experiment).]
Faustine. What modesty! Fontanares. Is this meant for a joke? All. Long live Don Ramon! Coppolus. In the name of the merchants of Catalonia, Don Ramon, we have come to beg your acceptance of this silver crown, a token of their gratitude for a discovery which is likely to prove a new source of prosperity to them. All. Long live Don Ramon! Don Ramon. It is with the keenest pleasure that I see that commerce recognizes the future developments of steam navigation. Fontanares. Let my laborers come forth! You, the children of the people, whose hands have completed my work, bear witness for me! It was from me only that you received the models. Say now, whether it was Don Ramon or I who originated the new power which the sea has felt to-day? Esteban. By my faith, you would have been in a pretty fix without Don Ramon! Mathieu Magis. It was two years ago, in the course of a conversation with Don Ramon, that he begged me to furnish funds for this experiment. Fontanares. (to Fregose) My lord, what strange delusion has fallen upon the people and burgesses of Barcelona? I arrive here in the midst of the acclamations with which Don Ramon is being greeted. Yes, I arrive bearing the traces of the vigils and sweat of this great enterprise, and I find you contentedly sanctioning the most shameful act of robbery that can be perpetrated in the face of heaven and earth. (Murmurs from the crowd.) Alone and unprotected I have risked my life on this enterprise. I was the first who pledged its accomplishment to the king, and unaided I have kept my pledge, and yet here in my place I find Don Ramon--an ignoramus. (More crowd murmurs.) Don Fregose. An old soldier knows very little about scientific matters and must accept plain facts. All Catalonia conceded to Don Ramon the priority in this invention, and everybody here declares that without him you would have accomplished nothing. It is my duty to inform his majesty, the king, of these circumstances. Fontanares. The priority! Where are the proofs of this? The Grand Inquisitor. They are as follows: In his treatise on the casting of cannons Don Ramon speaks of a certain invention called Thunder, made by Leonardo da Vinci, your master, and says that it might be applied to the navigation of a ship. Don Ramon. Ah! young man, acknowledge that you had read my treatises! Fontanares. (aside) I would sacrifice all my glory for one hour of vengeance!
SCENE FOURTH [The same persons and Quinola.]
Fontanares. What do you mean? Quinola. Hell has belched back upon us, I know not how--Monipodio, all on fire for revenge; he is on board the ship with a band of devils, and swears to scuttle it, unless you guarantee him ten thousand sequins. Fontanares. (kneels) Thanks, thanks for that. O ocean, whom I once longed to subdue, thou art the sole protector that is left to me; thou shalt keep my secret to eternity! (To Quinola) See that Monipodio steers for the open sea and there scuttles the ship. Quinola. What is this? Do I understand you aright? Which of us two has lost his head? Fontanares. Do as I bid you. Quinola. But, my dear master-- Fontanares. My life and yours are equally at stake. Quinola. Obey, without understanding why? For the first time I'll risk it. (Exit.)
SCENE FIFTH [The same persons, with the exception of Quinola.]
Don Ramon. You acknowledge then my claim? Fontanares. I will acknowledge anything you like, even to the point that O plus O is a binomial! Don Fregose. (after consulting with the Grand Inquisitor) Your demand is perfectly legitimate; we will forward a copy of your statement, preserving here the original. Fontanares. I have, then, escaped with my life. Let me ask all of you here present, if you look upon Don Ramon as the real inventor of the vessel which has been propelled by steam before the eyes of two hundred thousand Spaniards? All. We do. (Quinola makes his appearance.) Fontanares. Very good. Don Ramon has accomplished this prodigy. Don Ramon can begin his work again. (A loud explosion is heard.) The prodigy is no longer in existence. The employment of such a force is not without danger, and the danger which Don Ramon had not foreseen, has manifested itself, at the very moment while Don Ramon was receiving your congratulations! (Cries in the distance; everybody rushes to the balcony and gazes seaward.) I am avenged! Don Fregose. What will the king say? The Grand Inquisitor. France is all ablaze, the low countries in revolt, Calvin is stirring up all Europe; the king has too much business on his hands to worry himself about the loss of a ship. This new invention and the Reformation would have been too much at one time for the world! Now for some years the rapacity of maritime peoples has been checked. (Exeunt omnes.)
SCENE SIXTH [Quinola, Fontanares and Faustine.]
Fontanares. Marie is dead, senora; I do not know the meaning of the words right and wrong, nowadays. Quinola. There is a man for you. Faustine. Forgive me, and I will devote myself to your future. Fontanares. Forgiveness! That word has been erased from my heart. There are situations in which the heart either breaks or turns to bronze. I am scarcely twenty-five years old, but to-day you have changed me into a man of fifty. You have lost to me one world, now you owe me another-- Quinola. Let us turn our attention to politics. Faustine. And is not my love, Alfonso, worth a world? Fontanares. Yes, for you are a magnificent instrument of ruin and devastation. Yet it will be by means of you that I shall crush all those who have been an obstacle in my pathway; I take you, not for my wife, but for my slave, and you shall serve me. Faustine. Serve you blindly. Fontanares. But without hope that there will be any return--need I say of what? All here (he strikes his hand upon his heart) is of bronze. You have taught me what this world is made of. O world of self-interest, of trickery, of policy and of perfidy, I defy you to the combat! Quinola. Senor? Fontanares. What is it? Quinola. Am I in it with you? Fontanares. You? You are the only one who has still a place in my heart. We three will stand together; we will go-- Faustine. Where? Fontanares. We will go to France. Faustine. Let us start at once; I know these Spaniards, and they are sure to plot your death. Quinola. The resources of Quinola are at the bottom of the sea. Be kind enough to excuse his faults; he will doubtless do better at Paris. Verily, I believe that hell is paved with good inventions.
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