t, the clouds, that is, the water--

Quinola
Water, senor? Why! It is the world. Without water, you could not--That
is plain. Well now! This is the point on which my grandson's invention
is based; water will subdue water. X equals O plus O, that is the
complete formula.

Don Ramon (aside)
The terms he employs are incomprehensible.

Quinola
Do you understand me?

Don Ramon
Perfectly.

Quinola (aside)
This man is a driveling dotard. (Aloud) I have spoken to you in the
language of genuine philosophy--

Mathieu Magis (to Monipodio)
Can you tell me who this remarkably learned man is?

Monipodio
He is a very great man, to whom I am indebted for my knowledge of
ballistics; he is the director of the Venetian arsenal, and purposes
this evening to make us a contribution on behalf of the republic.

Mathieu Magis
I must go and tell Senora Brancadori, she comes from Venice. (Exit.)

SCENE FOURTEENTH

The same persons, with the exception of Mathieu Magis. Lothundiaz and
Marie.

Marie
Am I in time?

Quinola (aside)
Hurrah! Here comes our treasure.

(Lothundiaz and Don Ramon exchange greetings and examine the pieces of
machinery in the centre of the stage.)

Fontanares
What! Is Marie here?

Marie
My father brought me. Ah! my dear friend, your servant told me of your
distress--

Fontanares (to Quinola)
You scoundrel!

Quinola
What, grandson!

Marie
And he brought all my agonies to an end.

Fontanares
Tell me, pray, what was it troubled you?

Marie
You cannot imagine the persecutions I have endured since your arrival,
and especially since your quarrel with Madame Brancadori. What could I
do against the authority of my father? It is absolute. While I
remained at home, I doubted my power to help you; my heart was yours
in spite of everything, but my bodily presence--

Fontanares
And so you are another martyr!

Marie
By delaying the day of your triumph, you have made my position
intolerable. Alas! when I see you here, I perceive that you yourself
at the same time have been enduring incredible hardships. In order
that I might be with you for a moment, I have feigned an intention of
vowing myself to God; this evening I enter a convent.

Fontanares
A convent? Is that the way they would separate us? These tortures make
one curse the day of his birth. And you, Marie, you, who are the
mainspring and the glory of my discovery, the star that protected my
destiny, I have