Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently And tire the hearer with a book of words. If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it, And I will break with her and with her father, And thou shalt have her. Wast not to this end That thou began'st to twist so fine a story? Claud. How sweetly you do minister to love, That know love's grief by his complexion! But lest my liking might too sudden seem, I would have salv'd it with a longer treatise. Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than the flood? The fairest grant is the necessity. Look, what will serve is fit. 'Tis once, thou lovest, And I will fit thee with the remedy. I know we shall have revelling to-night. I will assume thy part in some disguise And tell fair Hero I am Claudio, And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart And take her hearing prisoner with the force And strong encounter of my amorous tale. Then after to her father will I break, And the conclusion is, she shall be thine. In practice let us put it presently. [Exeunt.] Scene II. A room in Leonato's house. [Enter [at one door] Leonato and [at another door, Antonio] an old man, brother to Leonato.] Leon. How now, brother? Where is my cousin your son? Hath he provided this music? Ant. He is very busy about it. But, brother, I can tell you strange news that you yet dreamt not of. Leon. Are they good? Ant. As the event stamps them; but they have a good cover, they show well outward. The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in mine orchard, were thus much overheard by a man of mine: the Prince discovered to Claudio that he loved my niece your daughter and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance, and if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top and instantly break with you of it. Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you this? Ant. A good sharp fellow. I will send for him, and question him yourself. Leon. No, no. We will hold it as a dream till it appear itself; but I will acquaint my daughter withal, that she may be the better prepared for an answer, if peradventure this be true. Go you and tell her of it. [Exit Antonio.] [Enter Antonio's Son with a Musician, and others.] [To the Son] Cousin, you know what you have to do. --[To the Musician] O, I cry you mercy, friend. Go you with me, and I will use your skill.--Good cousin, have a care this busy time. [Exeunt.] Scene III. Another room in Leonato's house. [Enter Sir John the Bastard and Conrade, his companion.] Con. What the goodyear, my lord! Why are you thus out of measure sad? John. There is no measure in the occasion that breeds; therefore the sadness is without limit. Con. You should hear reason. John. And when I have heard it, what blessings brings it? Con. If not a present remedy, at least a patient sufferance.