 | An Unhistorical Pastoral |  |
SCENE IV.
—A Room in Martha's House.Enter Martha.
Martha.
Gone with the Prince! I knew 'twould come at last.
Well, I shall be a lonely woman soon.
To think how many a mother envies me
My lovely daughter for her loveliness,
And that she has enchanted our good prince,
When I shall be a prince's mother-in-law.
[Knocking.
A visit at this time! Who's there?
Enter Onesta.
What now, my lady Faustine's maid?
Onesta.
The king has sent for you.
Martha.
The king!
Onesta.
King Alardo. By the deceit of providence he
has come back; and Guido has found out Faustine's escape.
He commanded me to go and bring you, because he has
heard about Eulalie; for Guido threatened me with flaying
and pickling, and buttering and roasting. You are to come
at once and meet the king and Guido and another lord at
the tree in the gushet where the three roads meet, to go with
them to the wood, where Eulalie and the prince, and Faustine
and Cinthio are. If I would not tell him all, he would have
minced me into collops, else he might have pulled my tongue
out before I would have told. The king is going to pack
you and Eulalie off this very night. ‘The mad, old heifer,’
says he, ‘to set her low-bred cow to my royal bull.’ And
Cinthio is to be made into a ram—no, it was a ewe,
Guido said: I think it was a ewe, though it struck me he
meant an ox; and Faustine is to mew in a nunnery all
her life.
Martha.
The king come back, and Eulalie and I to be
packed off to-night; Faustine, made a nun; you, to be
roasted—
Onesta.
Haste, haste. I'll tell you more as we go.
Martha.
More! Save us! You have said more than
enough.
[They go out.
| An Unhistorical Pastoral | |