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SIR FLEUREANT.

So you, my lord, have said.

ARTEVELDE.

You stand condemned.

Yet 't is a word that I would fain unsay.

SIR FLEUREANT.

You are most kind my lord; the word went always
You were a merciful man and fearing God,
And God is good to such and prospers them;
And if my life it please you now to spare,
You may find mercy for yourself in straits.
According as you show it.

ARTEVELDE.

Nay, thy life

Is justly forfeited; and if I spare thee

It is not that I look for God's reward

In sparing crime; since justice is most mercy.
Thou hast an intercessor to whose prayers
I grant thy life, absolving thee, not freely,
But on conditions.

SIR FLEUREANT.

Whatsoe'er they be

I will be bound most solemly by oath,
So God be my salvation, to fulfil them.

ARTEVELDE.

'Tis but to pay thy debt of gratitude
To her whose charity redeems thy life,,
That I would bind thee. At the supplication
Of thy lord's sometime lady thou art spared.

SIR FLEUREANT.

I'm bound to her for ever.

ARTEVELDE.

Sometime hence

Mischances may befall her. Though I trust,
And with good reason, that my arms are proof,
Yet is the tide of war unsteady ever;

And should my hope be wrecked upon some reef
Of adverse fortune, there is cause to fear
Her former lord, thy master, who suspects
Uneasily her faith, in victory's pride

Would give his vengeance and his jealousy
Free way to her destruction. In such hour,
Should it arrive, thou might'st befriend the lady,
As in thy present peril she doth thee.

SIR FLEUREANT.

I were ungrateful past all reach of words
That speak of baseness and ingratitude,
Should I not hold my life, and heart, and service,
Purely at her behest from this time forth.
And truly in conjunctures such as those
Your highness hath foreseen, to aid her flight
Were service which no Fleming could perform,
How true soe'er his heart, and yet to me
It were an easy task.

ARTEVELDE.

I trust the day

Will never come, that asks such service from you. But should it so, I charge you on your faith

And duty as a knight, perform it stoutly.

Prudence, meantime, demands that you remain

In close confinement.

SIR FLEUREANT.

As you please, my lord.

ARTEVELDE (after a pause).

What, watch there, ho!

Enter two Guards.

You will give passage to Sir Fleureant

To go at large. My mind, you see, is changed.
It ever was my way, and shall be still,

When I do trust a man, to trust him wholly.

You shall not quit my camp; but that word given,
You are at large within it.

SIR FLEUREANT.

Sir, your trust

Shall not appear misplaced.

ARTEVELDE.

Give you good rest!

And better dreams than those I woke you from.

SIR FLEUREANT.

With grateful heart I say, my lord, God keep you!

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

The BURGOMASTER of Ypres, with several BURGHRES of the French faction, and VAN MUCK.

BURGOMASTER.

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Well, well, God bless us! have a care oh me!
Be careful how you speak; wear a white hat;

And ever, mind'st thou, when thou see'st Vauclaire,
Uncover and stand back.

VAN MUCK.

I will, your worship.

Nay,

but

you must.

BURGOMASTER.

And Roosdyk-speak him fair;

For give him but a saucy word, he's out,

And twinkling me his dagger in the sun

Says, take you that,' and you are dead for good.

I'll speak him fair.

VAN MUCK.

BURGOMASTER.

Nay, but I say you shall.

'Tis a good rule to be more civil-spoken

Than wantonly be cut and stabbed for nothing.

'Tis so, your worship.

VAN MUCK.

BURGOMASTER.

Cast not away your life.

VAN MUCK.

'Tis as your worship pleases.

FIRST BURGHER.

But if Vauclaire, or Roosdyk, or the captains
Should ask him whence he comes, or what's his craft,
Being strange-looking for a citizen,

What should he answer?

BURGOMASTER.

Say thou com'st from Dinand

From Dinand, say, to sell Dinandery,

Pots, pitchers, mugs, and beakers, and the like.

VAN MUCK.

Suppose I'm questioned where they are.

BURGOMASTER.

You've sold 'em.

Say you praise God. Say you're a thriving man.

FIRST BURGHER (aside to second).

This matter will be out.

SECOND BURGHER.

Why so?

FIRST BURGHER.

Good friend,

Didst ever know a secret to lie close

Under a goose's wing?

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