The Marchioness (pointing out Quinola)
Is this our man?
The Captain
Yes.
The Marchioness Keep watch, my cousin, so that I may be able to talk without being overheard. (To Quinola) Who are you, my friend?
Quinola (aside)
Her friend! As soon as you have a woman's secret, you are her friend.
(Aloud) Madame, I am a man superior to all considerations and all
circumstances.
The Marchioness
You have reached a pretty good height, at any rate.
Quinola
Is that a threat or a warning?
The Marchioness
Sir, you are very impertinent.
Quinola Do not mistake farsightedness for impertinence. You must study me, before coming to a decision. I am going to describe my character to you; my real name is Lavradi. At the moment Lavradi ought to be serving a ten years' sentence in Africa, at the presides, owing to an error of the alcaldes of Barcelona. Quinola is the conscience, white as your fair hands, of Lavradi. Quinola does to know Lavradi. Does the soul know the body? You may unite the soul, Quinola, to the body, Lavradi, all the more easily because this morning Quinola was at the postern of your garden, with the friends of the dawn who stopped the Duke of Olmedo—
The Marchioness
What has happened to him?
Quinola Lavradi would take advantage of this moment, which is full of promise, to ask a pardon; but Quinola is a gentleman.