University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

A room in Arden's house.
A table spread for supper.
Green, Bradshaw, Adam Fowl, Alicia, Maria, &c.
Brad.
Madam, be comforted.

A. Fowl.
Some accident, or business unforeseen, detains him thus.

Brad.
I doubt not of his safety.

Alic.
I thank you, gentlemen; I know you lov'd
My Arden well, and kindly speak your wishes.

Enter Mosby.
Mos.
I am asham'd I've made you wait: be seated.

Gr.
Madam, first take your place.

Alic.
Make me not mad—
To me henceforth all places are alike.

[Sits.
Mos.
Come, since we want the master of the house,
I'll take his seat for once.

Alic.
Dares he do this?

[Aside.
Mos.
I'm much afflicted that he stays so late;
The times are perilous.

Gr.
And he has enemies.
Tho' no man, sure, did e'er deserve them less.

Mos.
This day he was assaulted in the street.

Gr.
You sav'd him then.

Mos.
Wou'd I were with him now!

Mar.
She starts, her looks are wild. [Aside.]
—
How fare you, madam?

Alic.
I'm lost in admiration of your brother.

Mar.
I fear her more than ever. [Aside]
—
Madam, be merry.

Mos.
Michael, some wine. Health and long life to Arden.

[Drinks.
Alic.
The good you wish, and have procur'd for Arden,
[Rising.
Light on thyself.

Mar.
For heaven's sake!—

Alic.
Give me way.
[Comes forward.
Let them dispatch, and send me to my husband:
[All rise.
Eve liv'd too long with falshood and deceit.

[Knocking at the gate.
A. Fowl.
What noise is that?

[Exit Michael.
Brad.
Pray heaven, that all be right.

Mos.
Bar all the doors.

Enter Michael.
Mich.
We are discover'd, sir.
[To Mosby.
The mayor with officers, and men in arms.

Enter Mayor, &c.
Mayor.
Go you with these, and do as I directed.
[Exeunt officers and others.
I'm sorry that the duty of my office
Demands a visit so unseasonable.

Mos.
Your worship doubtless were a welcome guest
At any hour; but wherefore thus attended?

Mayor.
I have received a warrant from the council
To apprehend two most notorious ruffians;
And information being made on oath,
That they were seen to enter here to-night,
I'm come to search.

Gr.
I'm glad it is no worse.

[Aside.
Mos.
And can you think that Arden entertains
Villains like those you speak of? Were he here,
You'd not be thank'd for this officiousness.

Mayor.
I know my duty, sir, and that respect,
So justly due to our good neighbour's worth.—
But where is Arden?

Alic.
Heavens! where indeed!

Mar.
Alicia, for my sake—

[Aside.
Alic.
If I were silent,
Each precious drop of murder'd Arden's blood
Wou'd find a tongue, and cry to heaven for vengeance.

Mayor.
What says the lady?

Mos.
Oh! sir, heed her not:
Her husband has not been at home to-night,
And her misboding sorrow for his absence,
Has almost made her frantic.

Mayor.
Scarce an hour,
Since I beheld him enter here with you.

Mos.
The darkness of the night deceiv'd you, sir:
It was a stranger, since departed hence.

Mayor.
That's most surprising. No man knows better.

Frank.
[without]
Within there—ho—bar up your gates with care,
And set a watch—Let not a man go by—
Franklin and others enter with lights—
And ev'ry tongue, that gave not its consent
To Arden's death, join mine and cry aloud
To heaven and earth for justice. Honest Arden,
My friend—is murder'd.

Mayor.
Murder'd!

Gr.
How?

Mos.
By whom?

Frank.
How shall I utter what my eyes have seen!
Horrid with many a gaping wound he lies
Behind the abbey, a sad spectacle!
O vengeance! vengeance!

Mayor.
Justly art thou moved.
Passion is reason in a cause like this.

Frank.
Eternal Providence, to whose bright eye
Darkness itself is as the noon-day blaze,
Who brings the midnight murd'rer and his deeds
To light and shame, has in their own security
Found these.

Mayor.
Here seize them all—this instant:
[Alicia faints.
Look to the lady. This may be but feign'd.
Your charge but goes a long with my suspicions.

Brad.
And mine.

A. Fowl.
And mine.

Frank.
First hear me, and then judge,
Whether on slight presumptions I accuse them.
These honest men, (neighbours and townsmen all)
Conducted me, dropping with grief and fear,
To where the body lay;—with them I took these notes,
Not to be trusted to the faithless memory.
“Huge clots of blood and some of Arden's hair
“May still be seen upon the garden-wall;
“Many such rushes as these floors are strew'd with,
“Stick to his shoes and garments: and the prints
“Of several feet may in the snow be trac'd,
“From the stark body to the very door.”
These are presumptions he was murder'd here,
And that th'assassins having borne his corse
Into the fields, hither return'd again.

Mos.
Are these your proofs?

Gr.
These are but circumstances,
And only prove thy malice.

Frank.
—And this scarf,
Known to be Arden's, in the court was found,
All blood.—

Mayor.
Search 'em.—

Mich.
I thought I'd thrown it down the well.

[Aside.
Mayor.
—[To an officer]
Enter that room, and search the lady there;
We may perhaps discover more.

[Officer goes out and re-enters, in the mean time another officer searches Mosby and Green.]
1st Officer.
On Arden's wife I found this letter.

2d Officer.
And I this ring on Mosby.

Mayor.
—Righteous heaven!
Well may'st thou hang thy head, detested villain:
This very day did Arden wear this ring,
I saw it on his hand.—

Mos.
I freely yield me to my fate

Enter another officer.
Officer.

We've seiz'd two men behind some stacks
of wood.

Mayor.
Well, bring 'em in.—
[Black Will and Shakebag brought in.
They answer the description:
But let them wait 'till I have done with these.
Heavens! what a scene of villany is here!

[Having read the letter.
B. Will.

Since we're sure to die, tho' I cou'd
wish 'twere in better company, (for I hate that
fawning rascal, Mosby,) I'll tell the truth for once.
He has been long engaged in an affair with Arden's
wife there, but fearing a discovery, and hoping to
get into his estate, hired us to hide him.—That's all.

Mayor.

And you the horrid deed perform'd?

Shake.

We did, with his assistance, and Green's
and Michael's.

Mayor.
This letter proves Alicia, from the first,
Was made acquainted with your black design.

B. Will.

I know nothing of that: but if she
was, she repented of it afterwards. So, I think,
you call that a change of mind.

Mayor.
That may avail her at the bar of heav'n,
But is no plea at our's. [Alicia brought in.]
Bear them to prison;
Load them with irons, make them feel their guilt,
And groan away their miserable hours,
Till sentence of the law shall call them forth
To publick execution.—

Alic.
I adore
Th'unerring hand of justice; and with silence
Had yielded to my fate, but for this maid,
Who, as my soul dreads justice on her crimes,
Knew not, or e'er consented to this deed.

Mayor.
But did she not consent to keep it secret?

Mos.
To save a brother, and most wretched friend.—

Mayor.
She has undone herself—Behold how innocence
May suffer in bad fellowship.—And Bradshaw,
My honest neighbour Bradshaw too—I read it
With grief and wonder.—

Brad.
Madam, I appeal
To you; as you are shortly to appear
Before a judge that sees our secret thoughts,
Say, had I knowledge, or—

Alic.
You brought the letter,
But well I hope, you knew not the contents.

Mayor.
Hence with them all, 'till time and farther light
Shall clear these mysteries.

A. Fowl.
If I'm condemn'd,
My blood be on his head that gives the sentence.
I'm not accus'd, and only ask for justice.

Frank.
You shall have justice all, and rig'rous justice.
So shall the growth of such enormous crimes,
By their dread fate be check'd in future times.
Of Avarice, Mosby a dread instance prove,
And poor Alicia of unlawful Love.