Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 2
The same.
Don John : It is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the
[p]daughter of Leonato.
Borachio : Yea, my lord; but I can cross it.
Don John : Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be
[p]medicinable to me: I am
sick in displeasure to him,
[p]and whatsoever comes athwart his
affection ranges
[p]evenly with mine. How canst thou cross this
marriage?
Borachio : Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no
[p]dishonesty shall
appear in me.
Don John : Show me briefly how.
Borachio : I think I told your lordship a year since, how much
[p]I am in the
favour of Margaret, the waiting
[p]gentlewoman to Hero.
Don John : I remember.
Borachio : I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night,
[p]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
[p]the prince your
brother; spare not to tell him that
[p]he hath wronged his honour in
marrying the renowned
[p]Claudio--whose estimation do you mightily
hold
[p]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,
[p]to undo Hero and
kill Leonato. Look you for any
[p]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
[p]the Count
Claudio alone: tell them that you know
[p]that Hero loves me; intend a
kind of zeal both to the
[p]prince and Claudio, as,--in love of your
brother's
[p]honour, who hath made this match, and his
friend's
[p]reputation, who is thus like to be cozened with
the
[p]semblance of a maid,--that you have discovered
[p]thus. They
will scarcely believe this without trial:
[p]offer them instances;
which shall bear no less
[p]likelihood than to see me at her
chamber-window,
[p]hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term
me
[p]Claudio; and bring them to see this the very night
[p]before the
intended wedding,--for in the meantime I
[p]will so fashion the matter
that Hero shall be
[p]absent,--and there shall appear such seeming
truth
[p]of Hero's disloyalty that jealousy shall be
called
[p]assurance and all the preparation overthrown.
Don John : Grow this to what adverse issue it can, I will put
[p]it in practise.
Be cunning in the working this, and
[p]thy fee is a thousand ducats.
Borachio : Be you constant in the accusation, and my cunning
[p]shall not shame
me.
Don John : I will presently go learn their day of marriage.
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Next: Act 2 - Scene 3
