Express trains and automobiles had not been invented in those days, but whatever the century in which he found himself possessed in the way of rapid transit was put to the utmost test in this journey into Spain stopping neither night nor day, and all the while his imagination carrying him still faster, busying itself with the primary cause of his journey and so sure of victory in his overwhelming consciousness of power, that already his indignation was on the brink of turning into pardoning pity, which it was bound to do as soon as his adversary showed any symptom of returning to sentiments of honor. Of this rare adventure we must let Beaumarchais tell in his own way.
CHAPTER III
“Que dirait la Sagesse si elle me voyait entre-mêler les occupations les plus graves dont un homme puisse s’occuper, de soirées agréables, tantôt chez un ambassadeur, tantôt chez un ministre.... Les contraires peuvent-ils ainsi aller dans une même tête? Qui, mon cher père, je ressemble à feu Alcibiade, dont-il ne me manque que la figure, la naissance, l’esprit et les richesses.”
Lettre de Beaumarchais à son père.
Marceline: “Jamais fâché, toujours en belle humeur; donnant le présent à la joie, et s’inquiétant de l’avenir tout aussi peu que du passé, sêmillant généreux généreux.”
Bartholo: “Comme un voleur!”
Marceline: “Comme un seigneur.”
“Le Mariage de Figaro”—Act I, Scene IV.