_Isidore._ Will that be a sure sign? _Ordonio._ Beyond suspicion. Fondly caressing him, her favour'd lover, (By some base spell he had bewitched her senses) She whispered such dark fears of me forsooth, 50 As made this heart pour gall into my veins. And as she coyly bound it round his neck She made him promise silence; and now holds The secret of the existence of this portrait Known only to her lover and herself. 55 But I had traced her, stolen unnotic'd on them, And unsuspected saw and heard the whole. _Isidore._ But now I should have cursed the man who told me You could ask aught, my lord, and I refuse-- But this I can not do. _Ordonio._ Where lies your scruple? 60 _Isidore._ Why--why, my lord! You know you told me that the lady lov'd you, Had loved you with incautious tenderness; That if the young man, her betrothéd husband, Returned, yourself, and she, and the honour of both 65 Must perish. Now though with no tenderer scruples Than those which being native to the heart, Than those, my lord, which merely being a man-- _Ordonio._ This fellow is a Man--he killed for hire One whom he knew not, yet has tender scruples! 70 [_Then turning to ISIDORE._ These doubts, these fears, thy whine, thy stammering-- Pish, fool! thou blunder'st through the book of guilt, Spelling thy villainy. _Isidore._ My lord--my lord, I can bear much--yes, very much from you! But there's a point where sufferance is meanness: 75 I am no villain--never kill'd for hire-- My gratitude---- _Ordonio._ O aye--your gratitude! 'Twas a well-sounding word--what have you done with it? _Isidore._ Who proffers his past favours for my virtue-- _Ordonio._ Virtue---- _Isidore._ Tries to o'erreach me--is a very sharper, 80 And should not speak of gratitude, my lord. I knew not 'twas your brother! _Ordonio._ And who told you? _Isidore._ He himself told me. _Ordonio._ Ha! you talk'd with him! And those, the two Morescoes who were with you? _Isidore._ Both fell in a night brawl at Malaga. 85 _Ordonio (in a low voice)._ My brother-- _Isidore._ Yes, my lord, I could not tell you! I thrust away the thought--it drove me wild. But listen to me now--I pray you listen---- _Ordonio._ Villain! no more. I'll hear no more of it. _Isidore._ My lord, it much imports your future safety 90 That you should hear it. _Ordonio (turning off from Isidore)._ Am not I a man! 'Tis as it should be! tut--the deed itself Was idle, and these after-pangs still idler!