Fontanares
The king fixed no term for the time of my experiments.
Sarpi The administration of Catalonia has the right to demand an account, and we have received a decree of the ministers to this effect. (Fontanares appears thunderstruck.) Oh! you can take your time; we do not wish to embarrass a man like you. Nor are we inclined to think that you wish to elude the stipulation with regard to your life by keeping the ship for an indefinite period.
Marie
His life?
Fontanares
Yes, I am staking my life in these experiments.
Marie
And yet, you refuse my help?
Fontanares In three months, Count Sarpi, I shall have completed, without the counsel of another, the work I am engaged upon. You will then see one of the greatest spectacles that a man can produce for his age to witness.
Sarpi
Here, then, is a bond to that effect; sign it.
(Fontanares signs it.)
Marie Farewell, my friend! If you are vanquished in this struggle I believe that I shall love you more than ever!
Lothundiaz
Come, my daughter; the man is mad.