Armada has
been lost; wait for him on his way through to chapel and address him.
(Exit.)

SCENE SEVENTH

The Captain of the Guards, the Courtiers and Quinola.

Quinola (in the front of the stage)
It is not sufficient to possess genius and to employ it, for there are
plenty of people who make a false show to have it and meet excellent
success. There is need also of opportunity and favoring circumstances;
a picked up letter which puts a favorite in danger, in order to obtain
an interceding tongue, and the loss of the mightiest of flotillas, in
order to open the ears of a prince. Chance is an infamous wretch! And
now, in the duel of Fontanares with his century, the hour has come for
his poor second to appear. (Bells are heard; guard is mounted.) Is yon
sound an omen of success? (To the Captain of the Guards) How ought the
king to be spoken to?

The Captain
Step forward, bow your knee, and say: "Sire"--and pray God to guide
your tongue aright.

(The royal procession appears.)

Quinola
I shall have no trouble falling upon my knees; they are giving way
already; for it is not only the fate of a man, but of a world, that is
at stake.

A page
The queen!

A page
The king!

(Tableau.)

SCENE EIGHTH

The same persons, the King, the Queen, the Marchioness of Mondejar,
the Grand Inquisitor and the whole Court.

Philip II.
Gentlemen, we are about to pray God and honor Him who had dealt a
deadly blow to Spain. England has escaped us, the Armada is lost, and
we desire no more to talk of that flotilla. Admiral (he turns to the
admiral), you were not sent to give battle to the storms.

Quinola
Sire! (He falls on one knee.)

Philip II.
Who are you?

Quinola
The most insignificant and the most devoted of your subjects; the
servant of a man who pines in the prisons of the Holy Office, accused
of magic, because he desires to give to your Majesty the power of
escaping from similar disasters--

Philip II.
If you are really a servant, rise to your feet. Only grandees are wont
to kneel here, in presence of the king.

Quinola
My master, then, shall kneel at your feet.

Philip II.
Explain yourself in brief; the moments of the king's whole life are
not so numerous as are his subjects.

Quinola
You must have, then, but one hour for each of your empires. My master,
Senor Alfonso Fontanares, is in the prison of the Holy Office--

Philip II. (to the