So the musicians lightly touched the strings of their instruments, and Balthasar began his song: “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never: Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny! “Sing no more ditties, sing no more, Of dumps so dull and heavy; The fraud of man was ever so, Since summer first was leafy: Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny!” “By my troth, a good song!” said the Prince. “Balthasar, I pray you get us some excellent music, for to-morrow night we would have it at the lady Hero’s chamber-window.” “The best I can, my lord.” “Do so; farewell.... Come hither, Leonato,” said Don Pedro, when the young musician had retired. “What was it that you told me of to-day--that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick?” “Go on,” whispered Claudio. “We shall catch our bird. I did never think that lady would have loved any man,” he added aloud, for Benedick’s benefit. “No, nor I neither,” said Leonato; “but it is most wonderful that she should so doat on Signor Benedick, whom she has in all outward behaviour always seemed to abhor.” “Is it possible? Sits the wind in that corner?” murmured the astonished Benedick in his hiding-place. “By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it, but that she loves him frantically,” continued Leonato. “It is past the bounds of belief.” “Has she made her affection known to Benedick?” asked Don Pedro. “No, and swears she never will; that is the cause of her unhappiness.” “’Tis true indeed,” put in Claudio. “‘Shall I,’ says she, ‘that have so often encountered him with scorn, write to him that I love him?’” “‘I measure him by my own spirit,’ she says,” continued Leonato, “‘for I should flout him if he wrote to me--yea, though I love him, I should.’” “And then she weeps and sobs, beats her heart, tears her hair,” said Claudio. “My daughter is sometimes afraid she will do a desperate outrage to herself,” said Leonato. “It were good if Benedick knew it from someone else, if she will not reveal it,” said Don Pedro. “To what end?” asked Claudio. “He would make but a sport of it, and torment the poor lady worse.” “If he did it would be a charity to hang him,” said Don Pedro indignantly. “She is an excellent, sweet lady.” “And she is exceedingly wise,” put in Claudio. “In everything but in loving Benedick,” said Don Pedro. “Oh, my lord, I am sorry for her, as I have just cause, being her uncle and her guardian,” said Leonato. “I would she had bestowed this affection on me,” said Don Pedro. “I would marry her at once. Well, Leonato, I am sorry for your niece. I pray you tell Benedick of it, and hear what he will say.”