Act II.
Scene II.
Scene II.—Another Room in LEONATO'S
House.
Enter DON JOHN and BORACHIO.
D. John. It is so; the Count Claudio shall
marry the daughter of Leonato.
Bora. Yea, my lord; but I can cross it.
D. John. Any bar, any cross, any impedi-
ment will be medicinable to me; I am sick in
displeasure to him, and whatsoever comes
athwart his affection ranges evenly with mine.
How canst thou cross this marriage?
Bora. Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly
that no dishonesty shall appear in me.
D. John. Show me briefly how.
Bora. I think I told your lordship, a year
since, how much I am in the favour of Margaret,
the waiting-gentlewoman to Hero.
D. John. I remember.
Bora. I can, at any unseasonable instant of
the night, appoint her to look out at her lady's
chamber-window.
D. John. What life is in that, to be the death
of this marriage?
Bora. The poison of that lies in you to
temper. Go you to the prince your brother;
spare not to tell him, that he hath wronged his
honour in marrying the renowned Claudio,—
whose estimation do you mightily hold up,—to a
contaminated stale, such a one as Hero.
D. John. What proof shall I make of that?
Bora. Proof enough to misuse the prince, to
vex Claudio, to undo Hero, and kill Leonato.
Look you for any other issue?
D. John. Only to despite them, I will en-
deavour any thing.
Bora. Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw
Don Pedro and the Count Claudio alone: tell
them that you know that Hero loves me; intend
a kind of zeal both to the prince and Claudio,
as—in love of your brother's honour, who hath
made this match, and his friend's reputation,
who is thus like to be cozened with the sem-
blance of a maid,—that you have discovered
thus. They will scarcely believe this without
trial: offer them instances, which shall bear no
less likelihood than to see me at her chamber-
window, hear me call Margaret Hero; hear Mar-
garet term me Claudio; and bring them to see
this the very night before the intended wedding:
for in the meantime I will so fashion the matter
that Hero shall be absent; and there shall
appear such seeming truth of Hero's disloyalty,
that jealousy shall be called assurance, and all
the preparation overthrown.
D. John. Grow this to what adverse issue
it can, I will put it in practice. Be cunning in
the working this, and thy fee is a thousand
ducats.
Bora. Be you constant in the accusation, and
my cunning shall not shame me.
D. John. I will presently go learn their day
of marriage. [Exeunt.
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