Page:A Series of Plays on the Passions Volume 3.pdf/284

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Page. It was but the sound of my feet following you.

Vald. Only that. The castle is taken thou say'st, and the ruffians are in quest of me.

Page. Aye, marry are they! Their savage leader says, as the old tale book has it, that he'll have the heart's blood of Count Valdemere on his sword before he eat or sleep.

Vald. His sword!

Page. Aye, my Lord, a good heavy rapier, I assure you; and he swears, since you have not fought like a man on the walls, he'll kill you like a rat in your hole.

Vald. I am horribly beset!

Page. Aye, hot work, my Lord; the big drops fall from your forehead, like a thunder shower.

Vald. Thou liest; I am cold as the damp of a sepulchre.

Page. And pale too, as the thing that lies within it.

Vald. (listening.) Hark, hark! they are coming.

Page. I hear nothing.

Vald. Thou dost! thou dost! lying varlet, with that treacherous leer upon thy face: thou hast decoyed me here for destruction. (Catching him by the throat.)

Page. For mercy, my Lord, let go your hold! I hear nothing, as I hope to be saved, but our own voices sounding again from the vaulted roof over our heads.