The Spanish Tragedy Part 11

Shoots.

So, there he lies; my promise is perform'd.

The WATCH.

I WATCH. Hark, gentlemen, this is a pistol shot!

II WATCH. And here's one slain; stay the murderer!

PED. Now, by the sorrows of the souls in h.e.l.l,

He strives with the WATCH.

Who first lays hands on me, I'll be his priest!

III WATCH. Sirrah, confess, and therein play the priest.

Why hast thou thus unkindly kill'd the man?

PED. Why, because he walk'd abroad so late.

III WATCH. Come sir, you had been better kept your bed Then have committed this misdeed so late.

II WATCH. Come to the marshall's with the murderer!

I WATCH. On to Hieronimo's! help me here To bring the murder'd body with us too.

PED. Hieronimo? Carry me before whom you will; What e'er he be, I'll answer him and you.

And do your worst, for I defy you all!

Exeunt.

[ACT III. SCENE 4.]

[The DUKE's castle]

Enter LORENZO and BALTHAZAR.

BAL. How now, my lord? what makes you rise so soon?

LOR. Fear of preventing our mishaps too late.

BAL. What mischief is it that we not mistrust?

LOR. Our greatest ills we least mistrust, my lord, And unexpected harms do hurt us most.

BAL. Why, tell me, Don Lorenz,--tell me, man, If aught concerns our honour and your own!

LOR. Nor you nor me, my lord, but both in one; But I suspect--and the presumptions great-- That by those base confed'rates in our fault Touching the death of Don Horatio We are all betray'd to old Hieronimo.

BAL. Betray'd, Lorenzo? tush! it cannot be.

LOR. A guilty conscience urged with the thought Of former evils, easily cannot err: I am persuaded--and dissuade me not-- That all's revealed to Hieronimo.

And therefore know that I have cast it thus--

[Enter PAGE.]

But here's the page. How now? what news with thee?

PAGE. My lord, Serberine is slain.

BAL. Who? Serberine, my man?

PAGE. Your Highness' man, my lord.

LOR. Speak, page: who murder'd him?

PAGE. He that is apprehended for the fact.

LOR. Who?

PAGE. Pedringano.

BAL. Is Serberine slain, that lov'd his lord so well?

Injurious villain! murd'rer of his friend!

LOR. Hath Pedringano murder'd Serberine?

My lord, let me entreat you to take the pains To exasperate and hasten his revenge With your complaints unto my lord the king.

This their dissension breeds a greater doubt.

BAL. a.s.sure thee, Don Lorenzo, he shall die, Or else his Highness hardly shall deny.

Meanwhile, I'll haste the marshall sessions, For die he shall for this his d.a.m.ned deed.

Exit BALTHAZAR.

LOR. [aside] Why, so! this fits our former policy; And thus experience bids the wise and deal.

I lay the plot, he prosecutes the point; I set the trap, he breaks the worthless twigs, And sees not that wherewith the bird was lim'd.

Thus hopeful men, that means to hold their own, Must look, like fowlers, to their dearest friends.

He runs to kill whom I have holp to catch, And no man knows it was my reaching fetch.

'Tis hard to trust unto a mult.i.tude,-- Or any one, in mine opinion, When men themselves their secrets will reveal.

Enter a MESSENGER with a letter.

LOR. Boy.

PAGE. My lord.