MARTIN And I can keep a secret. FRANCIS (_To Peter_.) Warwickshire you mean. (_Aside_.) PETER Perhaps not. FRANCIS Nearer perhaps. PETER I say nothing. DANIEL I hope there is none in this company would be mean enough to betray him. ALL O Lord, surely not. (_They drink to Sir Walter's safety_.) FRANCIS I have often wondered how our master came to be excepted by name in the late Act of Oblivion. DANIEL Shall I tell the reason? ALL Aye, do. DANIEL 'Tis thought he is no great friend to the present happy establishment. ALL O! monstrous! PETER Fellow servants, a thought strikes me.--Do we, or do we not, come under the penalties of the treason-act, by reason of our being privy to this man's concealment. ALL Truly a sad consideration. _To them enters Sandford suddenly._ SANDFORD You well-fed and unprofitable grooms, Maintained for state, not use; You lazy feasters at another's cost, That eat like maggots into an estate, And do as little work, Being indeed but foul excrescences, And no just parts in a well-order'd family; You base and rascal imitators, Who act up to the height your master's vices, But cannot read his virtues in your bond: Which of you, as I enter'd, spake of betraying? Was it you, or you, or, thin-face, was it you? MARTIN Whom does he call thin-face? SANDFORD No prating, loon, but tell me who he was, That I may brain the villain with my staff, That seeks Sir Walter's life? You miserable men, With minds more slavish than your slave's estate, Have you that noble bounty so forgot, Which took you from the looms, and from the ploughs, Which better had ye follow'd, fed ye, cloth'd ye, And entertain'd ye in a worthy service, Where your best wages was the world's repute, That thus ye seek his life, by whom ye live? Have you forgot too, How often in old times Your drunken mirths have stunn'd day's sober ears, Carousing full cups to Sir Walter's health?-- Whom now ye would betray, but that he lies Out of the reach of your poor treacheries. This learn from me, Our master's secret sleeps with trustier tongues, Than will unlock themselves to carls like you. Go, get you gone, you knaves. Who stirs? this staff Shall teach you better manners else. ALL Well, we are going. SANDFORD And quickly too, ye had better, for I see Young mistress Margaret coming this way. (_Exeunt all but Sandford._) _Enter Margaret, as in a fright, pursued by a Gentleman, who, seeing Sandford, retires muttering a curse. Sandford, Margaret._