Don Manuel: How quickly he has climbed to supreme power!
General Secretary, Minister,
And now Duke of Olmedo!
Camporeal: It is strange,
A cousin of that fallen president,
Don Sallust, could have won to such a height
Within six months!
Don Manuel: The queen reigns over us
And he reigns, over her.
Camporeal: That is not so.
Don Cesar never sees the queen alone.
I know it. I have had them watched by spies.
They shun each other. Do you know, he lives
By Tormez mansion, in a shuttered house,
With two black mutes to wait on him?
Don Manuel: Two mutes!
He is, indeed, a terrible, strange man.
And now to business! We must re-arrange
Some of the taxes and monopolies.
We want a fair division.
[All the Counsellors seat themselves.
A Counsellor: I must have
The salt monopoly.
Camporeal: No; that is mine!
You have the tax upon the trade in slaves.
I'll change that for the arsenic, if you like.
[Ruy Blas has entered at the beginning of the dispute: after listening some time he comes forward.