| ACT II SCENE II | The same. | |
| | Enter DON JOHN and BORACHIO | |
| DON JOHN | It is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the | |
| | daughter of Leonato. | |
| BORACHIO | Yea, my lord; but I can cross it. | |
| DON JOHN | Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be | 5 |
| | 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? | |
| BORACHIO | Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no | |
| | dishonesty shall appear in me. | 10 |
| DON JOHN | Show me briefly how. | |
| BORACHIO | I think I told your lordship a year since, how much | |
| | I am in the favour of Margaret, the waiting | |
| | gentlewoman to Hero. | |
| DON JOHN | I remember. | 15 |
| BORACHIO | I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night, | |
| | appoint her to look out at her lady's chamber window. | |
| DON JOHN | What life is in that, to be the death of this marriage? | |
| BORACHIO | The poison of that lies in you to temper. Go you to | |
| | the prince your brother; spare not to tell him that | 20 |
| | 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. | |
| DON JOHN | What proof shall I make of that? | |
| BORACHIO | Proof enough to misuse the prince, to vex Claudio, | 25 |
| | to undo Hero and kill Leonato. Look you for any | |
| | other issue? | |
| DON JOHN | Only to despite them, I will endeavour any thing. | |
| BORACHIO | Go, then; find me a meet hour to draw Don Pedro and | |
| | the Count Claudio alone: tell them that you know | 30 |
| | 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 | 35 |
| | 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 | 40 |
| | 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. | 45 |
| DON JOHN | Grow this to what adverse issue it can, I will put | |
| | it in practise. Be cunning in the working this, and | |
| | thy fee is a thousand ducats. | |
| BORACHIO | Be you constant in the accusation, and my cunning | |
| | shall not shame me. | 50 |
| DON JOHN | I will presently go learn their day of marriage. | |
| | Exeunt | |
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