The Works of Aphra Behn Volume Iii Part 37

_Fran_. And so, Mistress, come your ways to your Chamber.

_Jul_. And study how to prevent this cruel separation.

[_Aside, goes out with him and_ Jacinta.

_Cla_. Ah, _Antonio_, I find by that sad look of yours, you have over-heard our hasty Doom.

_Ant_. I have, and am a little surpriz'd at the suddenness of it; and I my self am the unlucky occasion of it,--to break it off, I told my Father how scurvily _Isabella_ treated me,--he thereupon sends for old _Francisco_, tells him of my complaint, and instead of disengaging my self, I find my self more undone.

_Cla_. What shall we do? I'm sure thou wilt not marry her, thou canst not do't and hope to go to Heaven.

_Ant_. No, I have one prevention left, and if that fail, I'll utterly refuse to marry her, a thing so vainly proud; no Laws of Nature or Religion, sure, can bind me to say yes; and for my Fortune, 'tis my own, no Father can command it.

_Cla_. I know thou wilt be true, and I'll not doubt it.

_Enter_ Jacinta.

_Jac_. Ah! Madam, the saddest news--

_Cla_. Hah! what?

_Jac_. Poor Gentleman, I pity you of all things in the World,--you must be forc'd--how can I utter it,--to the most lamentable torment that ever Lover endur'd--to remain all night in your Mistress's Chamber.

_Ant_. Alas, how shall I endure so great an Affliction?

_Cla_. And I.

_Jac_. Ha, ha, ha, how I am griev'd to think on it; ha, ha, ha, that you shou'd both be so hardly put to it; ha, ha, ha, for the old Gentleman has lock'd all the doors, and took the keys to bed to him,--go, get you in,--ha, ha, ha.--

_Ant_. Oh, my dear _Clara_, this is a blessing I could not hope.

_Cla_. _So large a Freedom shall my Virtue prove, I'll trust my Honour with_ Antonio's _Love_.

[_They go in_.

[_Ex_. Jacinta _laughing_.

ACT III.

SCENE I. _Don_ Carlos' _house_.

_Enter Don_ Carlos _in his Night-gown_, Antonio, _and_ Guzman _with Clothes_.

_Car_. All night with _Clara_ say'st thou? that was lucky; But was she kind, my friend?

_Ant_. As I desir'd, or Honour wou'd permit her; Nor wou'd I press her farther.

_Car_. A very moderate Lover.

_Ant_. For some part of my Virtue, Sir, I owe to you; in midst of all my Love, even in the kindest moments of Delight, my Joys were broken by concern for you.--_Julia_ this day, or very suddenly, leaves _Cadiz_.

_Car_. By Heaven, and so will _Carlos_ then; for I'm so resolutely bent to possess that dear Creature, That I will do't with hazard of my Life, Expence of Fortune, or what's dear to me.

_Guz_. And how wou'd you reward that politick head, that shou'd contrive the means to bring this handsomly about; not for an a hour, or a night, but even as long as you please, with freedom; without the danger of venturing your honourable neck, in showing Feats of Activity three stories high, with a Dagger in one hand, and a Pistol in t'other, like a Ropedancer?

_Car_. But how? Thou talkest of Impossibilities.

_Ant_. Dost think she'll e'er consent to quit her Husband?

_Guz_. No, Heaven forbid, I am too good a Christian to part Man and Wife; but being naturally inclined to works of Charity, I will with one project I have in this noddle of mine,--make old _Francisco_ a Cuckold, accommodate my Lord and _Julia_, serve you, Sir,--and give our selves a good Scene of Mirth.

_Car_. Thou amazest me.

_Guz_. If I do't not, send me to the Galleys; nay, and so far cure the Jealousy of the old Fellow, that from a rigid suspicious troublesom Fool, he shall become so tame and gentle a Husband,--that he shall desire you to favour him so much as to lie with his dear Wife.

_Car_. By what strange Witchcraft shall this be brought to pa.s.s?

_Guz_. E'en honest Invention, Sir, good Faith, listen and believe:--When he goes, he certainly goes by Sea, to save the charges of Mules.

_Ant_. Right, I heard him say so; in the Galley that lies in the Port.

_Guz_. Good, there is a Galley also, in the Harbour, you lately took from the _Turks_; Habits too were taken in her enough to furnish out some forty or fifty as convenient _Turks_ as a man wou'd wish at the Devil.

_Car_. Ah, Rogue, I begin to apprehend already.

_Guz_. Our _Turkish_ Galley thus man'd, I'll put to Sea, and about a League from Land, with a sham-fight set on that of Old _Francisco_, take it, make 'em all Slaves, clap the Old Fellow under hatches, and then you may deal with the fair Slave his Wife, as _Adam_ did with _Eve_.

_Car_. I'm ravish'd with the thought.

_Ant_. But what will be the event of this?

_Car_. I will not look so far, but stop at the dear Joys, and fear no Fate beyond 'em.

_Guz_. Nay, with a little cudgelling this dull Brain of mine I shall advance it farther for the Jest-sake;--as I take it, Signior Don _Antonio_, you have a fine Villa, within a Bow-shot of this City belonging to your self.

_Ant_. I have with pleasant Gardens, Grotto's, Waterworks.--

_Car_. A most admirable Scene for Love and our Designs.

_Ant_. 'Tis yours, Sir.

_Guz_. Then, Sir, when we have taken this old Fool, on whom the grossest cheat wou'd pa.s.s, much more this, which shall carry so seeming a Truth in't, he being clapt under hatches in the Dark, we'll wind round a League or two at Sea, turn in, and land at this Garden, Sir, of yours, which we'll pretend to be a _Seraglio_, belonging to the _Grand Seignior_; whither, in this hot part o'th' year, he goes to regale himself with his She-Slaves.

_Car_. But the distance of Place and Time allow not such a Fallacy.