Quinola
Who 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--
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 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.
Fontanares
The King of Spain, learning of my love for your daughter, is coming to
Barcelona to see a ship 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 ship
without sails or oars! I hope you will do it; I'll go to see it.
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