light a fault--

_Selby._ Pray you, be silent, else you put me out.
"A crafty page, that for advantage watch'd,
Detected in the act a brother page,
Of his own years, that was his bosom friend;
And thenceforth he became that other's lord,
And like a tyrant he demean'd himself,
Laid forced exactions on his fellow's purse;
And when that poor means fail'd, held o'er his head
Threats of impending death in hideous forms;
Till the small culprit on his nightly couch
Dream'd of strange pains, and felt his body writhe
In tortuous pangs around the impaling stake."

_Mrs. F._ I like not this beginning--

_Selby._ Pray you, attend.
"The Secret, like a night-hag, rid his sleeps,
And took the youthful pleasures from his days,
And chased the youthful smoothness from his brow,
That from a rose-cheek'd boy he waned and waned
To a pale skeleton of what he was;
And would have died, but for one lucky chance."

_Kath._ Oh!

_Mrs. F._ Your wife--she faints--some cordial--smell to this.

_Selby._ Stand off. My sister best will do that office.

_Mrs. F._ Are all his tempting speeches come to this?
[_Aside._

_Selby._ What ail'd my wife?

_Kath._ A warning faintness, sir,
Seized on my spirits, when you came to where
You said "a lucky chance." I am better now:
Please you go on.

_Selby._ The sequel shall be brief.

_Kath._ But, brief, or long, I feel my fate hangs on it.
[_Aside._

_Selby._ "One morn the Caliph, in a covert hid,
Close by an arbor where the two boys talk'd,
(As oft, we read, that Eastern sovereigns
Would play the eavesdropper, to learn the truth.
Imperfectly received from mouths of slaves,)
O'erheard their dialogue; and heard enough
To judge aright the cause, and know his cue.
The following day a Cadi was despatch'd
To summon both before the judgment-seat;
The lickerish culprit, almost dead with fear,
And the informing friend, who readily,
Fired with fair promises of large reward,
And Caliph's love, the hateful truth disclosed."

_Mrs. F._ What did the Caliph to the offending boy,
That had so grossly err'd?

_Selby._ His sceptred hand
He forth in token of forgiveness stretch'd,
And clapp'd his cheeks, and courted him with gifts,
And he became once more his favorite page.

_Mrs. F._ But for that other--

_Selby._