You wish?

Quinola
I wish--to speak to the king--at the moment when he passes on his way
to the chapel; I desire you to lend favor to my request.

The Marchioness
But what are you going to ask him?

Quinola
The most simple thing in the world--an audience for my master.

The Marchioness
Explain yourself, for time presses.

Quinola
Madame, I am the servant of a philosopher; and if the mark of genius
is poverty, we have a great deal too much genius, madame.

The Marchioness
To the point.

Quinola
Senor Alfonso Fontanares has come here from Catalonia to offer the
king our master the sceptre of the sea. At Barcelona he was taken for
a madman; here he is considered a sorcerer. When it becomes known what
he proposes, he is scoffed at in the antechambers. One wishes to
protest for the sake of ruining him; another, a philosopher, throws a
doubt on the existence of our secret, with the view of filching it;
others again make him a business proposition--capitalists who wish to