Faustine I see, Lombard, you are very cautious. If you wish to lend your name to promote an important business undertaking—
Mathieu Magis
Is it smuggling?
Faustine What difference does it make? The question is, what would guarantee your absolute silence?
Mathieu Magis
High profit.
Faustine (aside) This is a rare hunting dog. (Aloud) Very well, I am going to entrust you with a secret of life and death, for I purpose giving up to you a great man to devour.
Mathieu Magis My small business feeds on the great passions of life; (aside) where there is a fine woman, there is a fine profit.
Curtain to the Second Act.
ACT III
SCENE FIRST
(The stage setting is the interior of a stable. Overhead are piles of hay; along the walls are wheels, tubes, shafts, a long copper chimney, a huge boiler. To the left of the spectator the Madonna is sculptured on a pillar. To the right is a table strewn with paper and mathematical instruments. Above the table hangs on the wall a blackboard covered with figures; by the side of the table is a shelf on which are onions, a water crock and a loaf. To the right of the spectator is a wide door, and to the left, a door opening on the fields. A straw bed lies by the side of the pillar at the feet of the Madonna. It is night-time.)