usiness at their
own homes, and leave the affairs of the sun and moon alone. All that I
want is that my son-in-law should be the good father of his family.

Fontanares
Your daughter, senor, when she was but twelve years old, smiled on me
as Beatrice smiled on Dante. Child as she was, she saw in me at first
naught but a brother; since then, as we felt ourselves separated by
fortune, she has watched me as I formed that bold enterprise which
should bridge with glory the gulf that stood between us. It was for
her sake I went to Italy and studied with Galileo. She was the first
to applaud my work, the first to understand it. She had wedded herself
to my thought before it had occurred to her that one day she might wed
herself to me. It is thus she has become the whole world to me. Do you
now understand how I adore her?

Lothundiaz
It is just for that reason that I refuse to give her to you. In ten
years' time she would be deserted, that you might run after some other
discovery.

Marie
Is it possible, father, that a lover could prove false to a love which
has spurred him on to work such wonders?

Lothundiaz
Yes, when he can work them no longer.

Marie
If he should become a duke, grandee of Spain, and wealthy?

Lothundiaz
If! If! If! Do you take me for an imbecile? These ifs are the horses
that drag to the hospital all these sham world-discoverers.

Fontanares
But here are the letters in which the king grants to me the use of a
ship.

Quinola
Now open your eyes! My master is at once a man of genius and a
handsome youth; genius dulls a man and makes him of no use in a home,
I grant you; but the handsome youth is there still; what more is
needed by a girl for happiness?

Lothundiaz
Happiness does to consist in these extremes. A handsome youth and a
man of genius,--these, forsooth, are fine reasons for pouring out the
treasures of Mexico. My daughter shall be Madame Sarpi.

SCENE THIRTEENTH

The same persons, and Sarpi (on the balcony).

Sarpi (aside)
Some one uttered my name. What do I see? It is the heiress and her
father! What can they be doing in the square at this hour?

Lothundiaz
Sarpi has not gone to look for a ship in the harbor of Valladolid, but
he gained promotion for my son.

Fontanares
Do not, Lothundiaz, merely for the sake of your son's advancement,
dispose of your daughter's hand without my consent; she loves me and I
love her in return. In a short time I