do to him?

_Bassett:_
It's not proper hearing for your sort. But they let him go.

_Cromwell:_
What was it? The girl has heart enough.

_Bassett:_
Both thumbs, both ears, the tongue, and a T on the forehead.

_Amos:_
It wasn't Seth, sir. It couldn't be Seth--not like that. He was the
beauty of the four parishes.

_Bassett_
(to CROMWELL):
Was he something to do with you, sir?

_Cromwell:_
There is a boy, Seth Tanner, we have a care for.

_Bassett:_
Because I made bold to take him in. He was dazed, as it were--didn't
seem to know where to go.

_Cromwell:_
It was a good man's doing. Where is he?

_Bassett:_
I live under the walls here, as you might say.

_Cromwell:_
Could we see him?

_Bassett:_
Nay--it's no place to take you to. But I'll fetch him if you will. He
doesn't sleep.

_Cromwell:_
Do, then.

(BASSETT goes.)

_Amos:_
It's not my Seth, is it, sir? Not his tongue--and a bloody T. They would
know how he could sing, and he looked like Gabriel in the books.

_Hampden:_
Shall we go, Oliver?

_Cromwell:_
No. Let us all see it out.

_Bridget:_
Father, it's horrible. They don't do things like that, do they?

_Amos:_
Dumb--and a bloody T--and the thumbs. It's some other poor lad.

(BASSETT returns; with him a figure, the hands and ears bound up in
rough thick bandages, and on his forehead a burning red T. He looks at
them, with reason hardly awake.)

_Amos_
(going to him):
Seth--Seth, boy.

(SETH moves his lips, but makes no sound. They look at him in horror.)

_Bridget:_
Father--father.

_Cromwell:_
There--no--no.
(To BASSETT.)
Take him, good fellow. Care for him as you can. Get a surgeon for him.
Here's money. No, no, old man.

(BASSETT goes with SETH.)

_Amos:_
A bloody T. And dumb. God blast the King!

_Cromwell:_
Take him to our lodging, daughter. Go with them, Ireton. I'll follow.

(BRIDGET, AMOS, and IRETON go.)

_Cromwell:_
John, you are my best-beloved friend.

_Hampden:_
I praise myself in that more than in most.

_Cromwell:_
I call you to witness. That is a symbol. Before God, I will not rest
until all that it stands for in this unhappy England is less than the
dust. Amen.

_Hampden:_
Amen.

(A linkman is heard calling in the street. CROMWELL and HAMPDEN go
out.)

THE SCENE CLOSES

SCENE III

_CROMWELL'S house at Ely. A year later, 1642. It is afternoon in winter.
MRS. CROMWELL is sitting by the fire, reading. She looks a litt