Fontanares
The king fixed no term for the time of my experiments.
Sarpi
The administration of Catalonia has the right to demand an account,
and we have received a decree of the ministers to this effect.
(Fontanares appears thunderstruck.) Oh! you can take your time; we do
not wish to embarrass a man like you. Nor are we inclined to think
that you wish to elude the stipulation with regard to your life by
keeping the ship for an indefinite period.
Marie
His life?
Fontanares
Yes, I am staking my life in these experiments.
Marie
And yet, you refuse my help?
Fontanares
In three months, Count Sarpi, I shall have completed, without the
counsel of another, the work I am engaged upon. You will then see one
of the greatest spectacles that a man can produce for his age to
witness.
Sarpi
Here, then, is a bond to that effect; sign it.
(Fontanares signs it.)
Marie
Farewell, my friend! If you are vanquished in this struggle I believe
that I shall love you more than ever!
Lothundiaz
Come, my daughter; the man is mad.
Don Ramon
Young man! be sure to read my treatises.
Sarpi
Farewell, future grandee of Spain.
(Exeunt all except Fontanares.)
SCENE SIXTEENTH
Fontanares (alone in the front of the stage)
While Marie is in a convent the sunlight cannot warm me. I am bearing
up a world, yet fear I am no Titian. No, I shall never succeed; all is
against me. And this work which cost me three years of thought and ten
months of toil will never cleave the ocean! But now, I am heavy with
sleep.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96