TO. When I drop you, Pepe,
You'll be at rest.

PEPE. I will betray you--O!

LANCIOTTO. Not till the judgment day. [_They struggle._

PEPE. [_Drawing_ PAOLO'S _dagger._] Take that!

LANCIOTTO. [_Wresting the dagger from him._] Well meant,
But poorly done! Here's my return. [_Stabs him._

PEPE. O! beast! [_Falls._]
This I expected; it is naught--Ha! ha! [_Laughing._]
I'll go to sleep; but you--what will you bear!
Hunchback, come here!

LANCIOTTO. Fie! say your prayers.

PEPE. Hark, hark!
Paolo hired me, swine, to murder you.

LANCIOTTO. That is a lie; you never cared for gold.

PEPE. He did, I say! I'll swear to it, by heaven!
Do you believe me?

LANCIOTTO. No!

PEPE. You lie! you lie!
Look at the dagger, cousin--Ugh!--good-night! [_Dies._

LANCIOTTO. O! horrible! It was a gift of mine--
He never laid it by. Speak, speak, fool, speak!
[_Shakes the body._]
How didst thou get it?--speak! Thou'rt warm--not dead--
Thou hast a tongue--O! speak! Come, come, a jest--
Another jest from those thin mocking lips!
Call me a cripple--hunchback--what thou wilt;
But speak to me! He cannot. Now, by heaven,
I'll stir this business till I find the truth!
Am I a fool? It is a silly lie,
Coined by yon villain with his last base breath.
What ho! without there!

_Enter_ CAPTAIN _and Soldiers._

CAPTAIN. Did you call, my lord?

LANCIOTTO. Did Heaven thunder? Are you deaf, you louts?
Saddle my horse! What are you staring at?
Is it your first look at a dead man? Well,
Then look your fill. Saddle my horse, I say!
Black Pluto--stir! Bear that assassin hence.
Chop him to pieces, if he move. My horse!

CAPTAIN. My lord, he's shoeing.

LANCIOTTO. Did I ask for shoes?
I want my horse. Run, fellow, run! Unbarbed--
My lightest harness on his back. Fly, fly! [_Exit a SOLDIER._]
[_The others pick up the body._]
Ask him, I pray you, if he did not lie!

CAPTAIN. The man is dead, my lord.

LANCIOTTO. [_Laughing._] Then do not ask him!
[_Exeunt_ SOLDIERS _with the body._]