Except thy wits; thou art safe there! SECOND SOLDIER Ay, ay, he cannot take them from me. THIRD SOLDIER No; for thou hast no wits to give him. THE SOLDIERS [_loudly_] Ha! ha! ha! FIRST SOLDIER Silence! You will wake the prisoner; he is asleep. SECOND SOLDIER What matter? He will get sleep enough when he is buried. I warrant he’d be glad if we could wake him when he’s in the grave. THIRD SOLDIER Nay! for when he wakes there it will be judgment day. SECOND SOLDIER Ay, and he has done a grievous thing; for, look you, to murder one of us who are but flesh and blood is a sin, and to kill a Duke goes being near against the law. FIRST SOLDIER Well, well, he was a wicked Duke. SECOND SOLDIER And so he should not have touched him; if one meddles with wicked people, one is like to be tainted with their wickedness. THIRD SOLDIER Ay, that is true. How old is the prisoner? SECOND SOLDIER Old enough to do wrong, and not old enough to be wise. FIRST SOLDIER Why, then, he might be any age. SECOND SOLDIER They say the Duchess wanted to pardon him. FIRST SOLDIER Is that so? SECOND SOLDIER Ay, and did much entreat the Lord Justice, but he would not. FIRST SOLDIER I had thought, Pietro, that the Duchess was omnipotent. SECOND SOLDIER True, she is well-favoured; I know none so comely. THE SOLDIERS Ha! ha! ha! FIRST SOLDIER I meant I had thought our Duchess could do anything. SECOND SOLDIER Nay, for he is now given over to the Justices, and they will see that justice be done; they and stout Hugh the headsman; but when his head is off, why then the Duchess can pardon him if she likes; there is no law against that. FIRST SOLDIER I do not think that stout Hugh, as you call him, will do the business for him after all. This Guido is of gentle birth, and so by the law can drink poison first, if it so be his pleasure. THIRD SOLDIER And if he does not drink it? FIRST SOLDIER Why, then, they will kill him. [_Knocking comes at the door_.] FIRST SOLDIER See who that is. [_Third Soldier goes over and looks through the wicket_.] THIRD SOLDIER It is a woman, sir. FIRST SOLDIER Is she pretty? THIRD SOLDIER I can’t tell. She is masked, lieutenant. FIRST SOLDIER It is only very ugly or very beautiful women who ever hide their faces. Let her in. [_Soldier opens the door_, _and the_ DUCHESS _masked and cloaked enters_.] DUCHESS [_to Third Soldier_] Are you the officer on guard? FIRST SOLDIER [_coming forward_] I am, madam. DUCHESS I must see the prisoner alone. FIRST SOLDIER I am afraid that is impossible. [_The_ DUCHESS _hands him a ring_, _he looks at and returns it to her with a bow and makes a sign to the Soldiers_.] Stand without there.