ARKCODEX
Act II, Scene 2
1The same.
2Enter Don John and Borachio.
3Don JohnIt is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the daughter of Leonato.
4BorachioYea, my lord; but I can cross it.
5Don JohnAny bar, any cross, any impediment 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?
6BorachioNot honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no dishonesty shall appear in me.
7Don JohnShow me briefly how.
8BorachioI think I told your lordship a year since, how much I am in the favour of Margaret, the waiting gentlewoman to Hero.
9Don JohnI remember.
10BorachioI can, at any unseasonable instant of the night, appoint her to look out at her lady’s chamber window.
11Don JohnWhat life is in that, to be the death of this marriage?
12BorachioThe 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.
13Don JohnWhat proof shall I make of that?
14BorachioProof enough to misuse the prince, to vex Claudio, to undo Hero and kill Leonato. Look you for any other issue?
15Don JohnOnly to despite them, I will endeavour anything.
16BorachioGo, 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 semblance 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 Margaret 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.
17Don JohnGrow 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.
18BorachioBe you constant in the accusation, and my cunning shall not shame me.
19Don JohnI will presently go learn their day of marriage. Exeunt.