_Regent._ An if my judgment suit you not, go home, The pair. _(As they are going she calls the woman back.)_ Costanza! hath your husband erred With other woman? _Young Peasant_. Never! _Wife_. I'll not charge him With that. _Regent_. But, yes, you may. This man hath held Another woman to his breast. _Wife_. Her name? That I may tear her eyes! _Regent_. Her name's Costanza. The same Costanza that, with body washed, With ribbon in her hair, light in her eyes, Arrayed a cottage to allure his heart. Go home, poor fools, and find her!... Heigh! No others? [_Heaves a sigh._ Captain, dismiss the Guard. The watch, aloft-- Set him elsewhere. We would not be o'erlooked. You only, Lucio--you, Lucetta--stay; You for a while, Cesario. [_Exeunt Courtiers, Guard, Crowd, etc._ Heigh! that's over-- The last Court of the Regent; and the books Accounts of stewardship, my seven years all, Closed here for audit. Nay, there's one thing more-- Brother, erewhile I spoke you sisterly, You turned away, and still you bite your lip: Signs that may short my preface. It concerns The Countess Fulvia. _Lucio_. Ha! _Regent_. Go, bring her, Captain. [_Exit Cesario_. List to me, Lucio: listen, brother dear, First playmate-child, tending whose innocence Myself learned motherhood. Shall I deny Youth to be loved and follow after love? There is a love breaks like a morning beam On the husht novice kneeling by his arms; And worse there is, whose kisses strangle love, Whose feet take hold of hell. My Lucio, Follow not that! _Lucio_. Why, who--who hath maligned The Countess? _Regent_ Not maligned. Lucetta, here-- _Lucio_. Lucetta! Curse Lucetta and her tongue! Am I a child, to be nagged by waiting-maids? _Regent_. No, but a man, and shall weigh evidence. _Lucio_. But I'll not hear it! If her viper tongue Can kill, why kill it must. But send me a man, And I will smite his mouth--ay, slit his tongue-- That dares defame the Countess! _Regent_. Stay: she comes. [_Enter the Countess Fulvia, Cesario attending._ Madam, the reason wherefore you are summoned No doubt you guess, from a rude earlier call Our Captain paid you. Certain practices, Which you may force me name, are charged upon you On testimony you may force me call And may with freedom question. _Fulvia_. I'll not question: No, nor I will not answer. _Lucio_. Then I'll answer!' For me, for all, she is innocent! _Regent_. For you? We'll hope it: but 'for all' 's more wide an oath Than you can swear, sir. I'll not bandy you Words nor debate. Myself the ladder saw; Lucetta, here, the ladder and the man. _What_ man she will not say. Cesario Has tracked his footprint on her garden plots. Must we say more?