_Ven._ Pooh! I'm shallow yet; Too sparing and too modest; shall I tell thee? If every trick were told that's dealt by night, There are few here that would not blush outright. _Hip._ I am of that belief too. Who's this comes? _Ven._ The duke's son up so late? Brother, fall back, And you shall learn some mischief. My good lord! _Enter_ LUSSURIOSO. _Lus._ Piato! why, the man I wished for! Come, I do embrace this season for the fittest To taste of that young lady. _Ven._ Heart and hell. [_Aside._ _Hip._ Damned villain! [_Aside._ _Ven._ I have no way now to cross it, but to kill him. [_Aside._ _Lus._ Come, only thou and I. _Ven._ My lord! my lord! _Lus._ Why dost thou start us? _Ven._ I'd almost forgot--the bastard! _Lus._ What of him? _Ven._ This night, this hour, this minute, now-- _Lus._ What? what? _Ven._ Shadows the duchess-- _Lus._ Horrible word! _Ven._ And (like strong poison) eats Into the duke your father's forehead. _Lus._ O! _Ven._ He makes horn-royal. _Lus._ Most ignoble slave! _Ven._ This is the fruit of two beds. _Lus._ I am mad. _Ven._ That passage he trod warily. _Lus._ He did? _Ven._ And hushed his villains every step he took. _Lus._ His villains! I'll confound them. _Ven._ Take 'em finely--finely, now. _Lus._ The duchess' chamber-door shall not control me. [_Exeunt_ LUSSURIOSO _and_ VENDICE. _Hip._ Good, happy, swift: there's gunpowder i' the court, Wildfire at midnight. In this heedless fury He may show violence to cross himself. I'll follow the event. [_Exit._ SCENE IV.--_The_ DUKE'S _Bedchamber.--The_ DUKE _and_ DUCHESS _in bed._ _Enter_ LUSSURIOSO _and_ VENDICE, _disguised._ _Lus._ Where is that villain? _Ven._ Softly, my lord, and you may take 'em twisted. _Lus._ I care not how. _Ven._ O! 'twill be glorious To kill 'em doubled, when they're heaped. Be soft, my lord. _Lus._ Away! my spleen is not so lazy: thus and thus I'll shake their eyelids ope, and with my sword Shut 'em again for ever. Villain! strumpet! _Duke._ You upper guard, defend us! _Duch._ Treason! treason! _Duke._ O, take me not in sleep! I have great sins; I must have days, Nay, months, dear son, with penitential heaves, To lift 'em out, and not to die unclear. O, thou wilt kill me both in Heaven and here. _Lus._ I am amazed to death. _Duke._ Nay, villain, traitor, Worse than the foulest epithet; now I'll gripe thee E'en with the nerves of wrath, and throw thy head Amongst the lawyers!--guard! _Enter_ AMBITIOSO, SUPERVACUO, _and_ Lords. _1st Lord._ How comes the quiet of your grace disturbed? _Duke._ This boy, that should be myself after me, Would be myself before me; and in heat Of that ambition bloodily rushed in, Intending to depose me in my bed. _2nd Lord._ Duty and natural loyalty forfend!