The poor _bambino_! Nay, 'twas not the suit!
How should Giuseppe, being a fool, a man--

_Young Peasant._ Aye, aye: that's sense. I love him: still, you see--

_Regent._ An if my judgment suit you not, go home,
The pair. _(As they are going she calls the woman back.)_
Costanza! hath your husband erred
With other woman?

_Young Peasant_. Never!

_Wife_. I'll not charge him
With that.

_Regent_. But, yes, you may. This man hath held
Another woman to his breast.

_Wife_. Her name?
That I may tear her eyes!

_Regent_. Her name's Costanza.
The same Costanza that, with body washed,
With ribbon in her hair, light in her eyes,
Arrayed a cottage to allure his heart.
Go home, poor fools, and find her!...
Heigh! No others? [_Heaves a sigh._
Captain, dismiss the Guard. The watch, aloft--
Set him elsewhere. We would not be o'erlooked.
You only, Lucio--you, Lucetta--stay;
You for a while, Cesario.

[_Exeunt Courtiers, Guard, Crowd, etc._

Heigh! that's over--
The last Court of the Regent; and the books
Accounts of stewardship, my seven years all,
Closed here for audit.
Nay, there's one thing more--
Brother, erewhile I spoke you sisterly,
You turned away, and still you bite your lip:
Signs that may short my preface. It concerns
The Countess Fulvia.

_Lucio_. Ha!

_Regent_. Go, bring her, Captain.

[_Exit Cesario_.

List to me, Lucio: listen, brother dear,
First playmate-child, tending whose innocence
Myself learned motherhood. Shall I deny
Youth to be loved and follow after love?
There is a love breaks like a morning beam
On the husht novice kneeling by his arms;
And worse there is, whose kisses strangle love,
Whose feet take hold of hell. My Lucio,
Follow not that!

_Lucio_. Why, who--who hath maligned
The Countess?

_Regent_ Not maligned. Lucetta, here--

_Lucio_. Lucetta! Curse Lucetta and her tongue!
Am I a child, to be nagged by waiting-maids?

_Regent_. No, but a man, and shall weigh evidence.

_Lucio_. But I'll not hear it! If her viper tongue
Can kill, why kill it must. But send me a man,
And I will smite his mouth--ay, slit his tongue--
That dares defame the Countess!

_Regent_. Stay: she comes.

[_Enter the Countess Fulvia, Cesario attending._

Madam, the reason wherefore you are summoned