ke.

"I was," said Angelo.

"Then marry her instantly," said his master. "Marry them," he said to
Friar Peter, "and return with them here."

"Come hither, Isabel," said the Duke, in tender tones. "Your friar is
now your Prince, and grieves he was too late to save your brother;" but
well the roguish Duke knew he had saved him.

"O pardon me," she cried, "that I employed my Sovereign in my trouble."

"You are pardoned," he said, gaily.

At that moment Angelo and his wife re-entered. "And now, Angelo," said
the Duke, gravely, "we condemn thee to the block on which Claudio laid
his head!"

"O my most gracious lord," cried Mariana, "mock me not!"

"You shall buy a better husband," said the Duke.

"O my dear lord," said she, "I crave no better man."

Isabella nobly added her prayer to Mariana's, but the Duke feigned
inflexibility.

"Provost," he said, "how came it that Claudio as executed at an unusual
hour?"

Afraid to confess the lie he had imposed upon Angelo, the Provost said,
"I had a private message."

"You are discharged from your office," said the Duke. The Provost then
departed. Angelo said, "I am sorry to have caused such sorrow. I prefer
death to mercy." Soon there was a motion in the crowd. The Provost
re-appeared with Claudio. Like a big child the Provost said, "I
saved this man; he is like Claudio." The Duke was amused, and said to
Isabella, "I pardon him because he is like your brother. He is like my
brother, too, if you, dear Isabel, will be mine."

She was his with a smile, and the Duke forgave Angelo, and promoted the
Provost.

Lucio he condemned to marry a stout woman with a bitter tongue.

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

Only one of them was really a gentleman, as you will discover later.
Their names were Valentine and Proteus. They were friends, and lived
at Verona, a town in northern Italy. Valentine was happy in his name
because it was that of the patron saint of lovers; it is hard for a
Valentine to be fickle or mean. Proteus was unhappy in his name, because
it was that of a famous shape-changer, and therefore it encouraged him
to be a lover at one time and a traitor at another.

One day, Valentine told his friend that he was going to Milan. "I'm
not in love like you," said he, "and therefore I don't want to stay at
home."

Proteus was in love with a beautiful yellow-haired girl called Julia,
who was rich, and had no one to order her about. He was, however, sorry
to part fr