less fee than I would let him run
For any lady I have seen this twelvemonth.

IDONEA You know, Sir, I have been too long your guard
Not to have learnt to laugh at little fears.
Why, if a wolf should leap from out a thicket,
A look of mine would send him scouring back,
Unless I differ from the thing I am
When you are by my side.

HERBERT Idonea, wolves
Are not the enemies that move my fears.

IDONEA No more, I pray, of this. Three days at farthest
Will bring me back--protect him, Saints--farewell!

[Exit IDONEA.]

HOST 'Tis never drought with us--St. Cuthbert and his Pilgrims,
Thanks to them, are to us a stream of comfort:
Pity the Maiden did not wait awhile;
She could not, Sir, have failed of company.

HERBERT Now she is gone, I fain would call her back.

HOST (calling) Holla!

HERBERT No, no, the business must be done.--
What means this riotous noise?

HOST The villagers
Are flocking in--a wedding festival--
That's all--God save you, Sir.

[Enter OSWALD]

OSWALD Ha! as I live,
The Baron Herbert.

HOST Mercy, the Baron Herbert!

OSWALD So far into your journey! on my life,
You are a lusty Traveller. But how fare you?

HERBERT Well as the wreck I am permits. And you, Sir?

OSWALD I do not see Idonea.

HERBERT Dutiful Girl,
She is gone before, to spare my weariness.
But what has brought you hither?

OSWALD A slight affair,
That will be soon despatched.

HERBERT Did Marmaduke
Receive that letter?

OSWALD Be at peace.--The tie
Is broken, you will hear no more of _him_.

HERBERT This is true comfort, thanks a thousand times!--
That noise!--would I had gone with her as far
As the Lord Clifford's Castle: I have heard
That, in his milder moods, he has expressed
Compassion for me. His influence is great