Fontanares Not quite crazy enough, senor, to believe that O plus O is a binomial. SCENE SECOND The same persons, Don Fregose, Faustine, Avaloros and Sarpi. Sarpi We have come too late; the sale is over. Don Fregose The king will regret the confidence he placed in a charlatan. Fontanares A charlatan, my lord? In a few days, you may be able to cut my head off; kill me, but don't calumniate me; your position in the state is too high for you to descend so low. Don Fregose Your audacity equals the extent of your downfall. Are you unaware that the magistrates of Barcelona look upon you as an accomplice of the thief who robbed Lothundiaz? The flight of your servant proves the crime, and the freedom you now enjoy is due to the intercessions of this lady. (Points to Faustine.) Fontanares My servant, your excellency, might have been in early life a criminal, but since he has followed my fortune he has been an innocent man. I declare, on my honor, that he is guiltless of any such act as theft. The jewels which were seized at the moment he was engaged in selling them were the free gift of Marie Lothundiaz, from whom I had refused to accept them. Faustine What pride he shows, even in adversity! Nothing can bend him. Sarpi And how do you explain the resurrection of your grandfather, the pretended director of the Venetian arsenal? Unfortunately for you, the senora and myself were acquainted with the actual man. Fontanares I caused my servant to put on this disguise in order that he might talk science and mathematics with Don Ramon. Senor Lothundiaz will tell you that the philosopher of Catalonia and Quinola perfectly understood each other. Monipodio (to Quinola) He has ruined himself! Don Ramon On this subject I appeal to my writings. Faustine Do not be perturbed, Don Ramon; it is so natural for people of this kind, when they find themselves falling, to drag down other people with them! Lothundiaz Such a disposition is detestable.