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      LORD JUSTICE

       Thou standest on the extreme verge of death;

       See that thou speakest nothing but the truth,

       Naught else will serve thee.

      GUIDO

       If I speak it not,

       Then give my body to the headsman there.

      LORD JUSTICE

       [turns the time-glass]

       Let there be silence while the prisoner speaks.

      TIPSTAFF

       Silence in the Court there.

      GUIDO

       My Lords Justices,

       And reverent judges of this worthy court,

       I hardly know where to begin my tale,

       So strangely dreadful is this history.

       First, let me tell you of what birth I am.

       I am the son of that good Duke Lorenzo

       Who was with damned treachery done to death

       By a most wicked villain, lately Duke

       Of this good town of Padua.

      LORD JUSTICE

       Have a care,

       It will avail thee nought to mock this prince

       Who now lies in his coffin.

      MAFFIO

       By Saint James,

       This is the Duke of Parma’s rightful heir.

      JEPPO

       I always thought him noble.

      GUIDO

       I confess

       That with the purport of a just revenge,

       A most just vengeance on a man of blood,

       I entered the Duke’s household, served his will,

       Sat at his board, drank of his wine, and was

       His intimate: so much I will confess,

       And this too, that I waited till he grew

       To give the fondest secrets of his life

       Into my keeping, till he fawned on me,

       And trusted me in every private matter

       Even as my noble father trusted him;

       That for this thing I waited.

       [To the Headsman.] Thou man of blood!

       Turn not thine axe on me before the time:

       Who knows if it be time for me to die?

       Is there no other neck in court but mine?

      LORD JUSTICE

       The sand within the time-glass flows apace.

       Come quickly to the murder of the Duke.

      GUIDO

       I will be brief: Last night at twelve o’ the clock,

       By a strong rope I scaled the palace wall,

       With purport to revenge my father’s murder -

       Ay! with that purport I confess, my lord.

       This much I will acknowledge, and this also,

       That as with stealthy feet I climbed the stair

       Which led unto the chamber of the Duke,

       And reached my hand out for the scarlet cloth

       Which shook and shivered in the gusty door,

       Lo! the white moon that sailed in the great heaven

       Flooded with silver light the darkened room,

       Night lit her candles for me, and I saw

       The man I hated, cursing in his sleep;

       And thinking of a most dear father murdered,

       Sold to the scaffold, bartered to the block,

       I smote the treacherous villain to the heart

       With this same dagger, which by chance I found

       Within the chamber.

      DUCHESS

       [rising from her seat]

       Oh!

      GUIDO

       [hurriedly]

       I killed the Duke.

       Now, my Lord Justice, if I may crave a boon,

       Suffer me not to see another sun

       Light up the misery of this loathsome world.

      LORD JUSTICE

       Thy boon is granted, thou shalt die tonight.

       Lead him away. Come, Madam

       [GUIDO is led off; as he goes the DUCHESS stretches out her arms and rushes down the stage.]

      DUCHESS

       Guido! Guido!

       [Faints.]

      Tableau

      END OF ACT IV.

      ACT V

       Table of Contents

      SCENE

      A dungeon in the public prison of Padua; Guido lies asleep on a pallet (L.C.); a table with a goblet on it is set (L.C.); five soldiers are drinking and playing dice in the corner on a stone table; one of them has a lantern hung to his halbert; a torch is set in the wall over Guido’s head. Two grated windows behind, one on each side of the door which is (C.), look out into the passage; the stage is rather dark.

      FIRST SOLDIER

       [throws dice]

       Sixes again! good Pietro.

      SECOND SOLDIER I’ faith, lieutenant, I will play with thee no more. I will lose everything.

      THIRD SOLDIER

       Except thy wits; thou art safe there!

      SECOND SOLDIER

       Ay, ay, he cannot take them from me.

      THIRD SOLDIER

       No; for thou hast no wits to give him.

      THE SOLDIERS

       [loudly]

       Ha! ha! ha!

      FIRST SOLDIER

       Silence! You will wake the prisoner; he is asleep.

      SECOND SOLDIER What matter? He will get sleep enough when he is buried. I warrant he’d be glad if we could wake him when he’s in the grave.

      THIRD SOLDIER Nay! for when he wakes there it will be judgment day.

      SECOND SOLDIER Ay, and he has done a grievous thing; for, look you, to murder one of us who are but flesh and blood is a sin, and to kill a Duke goes being near against the law.

      FIRST SOLDIER Well, well, he was a wicked Duke.

      SECOND SOLDIER And so he should not have touched him; if one meddles with wicked people, one is like to be tainted with their wickedness.

      THIRD SOLDIER Ay, that is true. How old is the prisoner?

      SECOND SOLDIER Old enough to do wrong, and not old enough to be wise.

      FIRST SOLDIER Why, then, he might be any age.

      SECOND SOLDIER They say the Duchess wanted to pardon him.

      FIRST

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