Faustine
But he knows how to wrestle with difficulties.
Quinola
We have been for two years half drowned in difficulties; sometimes we
have gone to the bottom and the gravel was pretty hard.
Faustine
But what force of character, what genius he has!
Quinola
You see, there, senora, the effects of love.
Faustine
And with whom is he in love now?
Quinola
Still the same--Marie Lothundiaz.
Faustine
A doll!
Quinola
Yes, nothing but a doll.
Faustine
Men of talent are all like that.
Quinola
Colossal creatures with feet of clay!
Faustine
They clothe with their own illusions the creature that entangles them;
they love their own creation; they are egotists!
Quinola (aside)
Just like the women! (Aloud) Listen, senora, I wish that by some
honest means we could bury this doll in the depths of the--that is--of
a convent.
Faustine
You seem to me to be a fine fellow.
Quinola
I love my master.
Faustine
Do you think that he has noticed me?
Quinola
Not yet.
Faustine
Speak to him of me.
Quinola
But then, he would speak to me by breaking a stick across my back. You
see, senora, that girl--
Faustine
That girl ought to be forever lost to him.
Quinola
But he would die, senora.
Faustine
He must be very much in love with her.
Quinola
Ah! that is not my fault! All the way here from Valladolid I have a
thousand times argued the point, that a man like he ought to adore
women, but never to love an individual woman! Never--
Faustine
You are a pretty worthless rascal! Go and tell Lothundiaz to come and
speak with me and to bring his daughter with him.
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