MARY. Heartless god! Poor heart! Yet if this key--(is there indeed a key?) SHAKESPEARE. No lock without a key, nor heart, nor heart. MARY. --were found one day and strung with other keys Upon my ring? SHAKESPEARE. With other--? MARY. Keys of hearts! What else? Tucked in the casket where my mortals lie-- Sick pearl, flawed emerald, brooch or coronet-- SHAKESPEARE. God! MARY. Why, Jeweller? SHAKESPEARE. Then what they say-- MARY. They say? What do they say? And what care I? They say Pembroke? SHAKESPEARE. They lie! You shall not speak. They lie! MARY. So little doubt--and you a man! It’s new. It’s sweet. It will not last. We spoke of keys-- This heart-key, had I found it, would you buy? Come, tempt me with immortal necklaces! Come, purchase me with ornaments divine! SHAKESPEARE. I love you-- MARY. Well? SHAKESPEARE. I love you-- MARY. Is that all? SHAKESPEARE. I love you so. MARY. Why, that’s a common cry, I hear it daily, like the London cries, “Old chairs to mend!” or “Sweet, sweet lavender!” Is this your string of pearls, sixteen a penny? SHAKESPEARE. D’you laugh at me? I mean it. MARY. So do they all. Buy! Buy my lavender! Lady, it’s cheap-- It’s sweet--new cut--I starve--for Christ’s sake, buy! They mean it, all the hoarse-throat, hungry men That sell me lavender, that sell me love. SHAKESPEARE. I put my wares away. I do not sell. MARY. O pedlar! I had half a mind to buy. SHAKESPEARE. Too late. MARY. Open your pack again! What haste! What--not a trinket left me, not a pin For a poor lady? Does not the offer hold? SHAKESPEARE. You did not close. MARY. I will. SHAKESPEARE. Withdrawn! Withdrawn! MARY. Renew! SHAKESPEARE. Too late. MARY. You know your business best; Yet--what care I? SHAKESPEARE. Or I? Yet--never again To buy and sell with you! MARY. Never again. Heigh-ho! I sighed, sir. SHAKESPEARE. Yes, I heard you sigh. MARY. And smiled. At court, sir-- SHAKESPEARE. Yes, they buy and sell At court. But I know better--give and take! MARY [_evading him_]. What will you give me if I let you take? SHAKESPEARE. If you will come with me into my mind-- How shall I say it? Still you’ll laugh at me!