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172 WILLIAM CONGREVE [ACT Iv
. Guilt is ever at a loss, and confusion waits upon
it; when innocence and bold truth are always ready for
expression —
Lady Touch. Not in love; words arc the weak support of
cold indifference; love has no language to be heard.
Mask. Excess of joy has made me stupid! Thus may my
lips be ever closed. — \Kisses her.] And thus — Oh, who
would not lose his speech, upon condition to have joys above
it? Lady Touch. Hold, let me lock the door first.
[Goes to the door.
Masl^. \Aside.] That I believed; 'twas well I left the private
passage open.
Lady Touch. So, that's safe.
Mask. And so may all your pleasures be, and secret as
this kiss.
Mel. [Leafing out.\ And may all treachery be thus discovered.
Lady Touch. Ah! [Shrieks.
Mel. Villain! [ Offers to draw.
Mask. Nay, then, there's but one way. [Runs out.
Mel. Say you so, were you provided for an escape? —
Hold, madam, you have no more holes to your burrow, I'll
stand between you and this sally port.
Lady Touch. Thunder strike thee dead for this deceit!
immediate lightning blast thee, me, and the whole world!
— Oh! I could rack myself, play the vulture to my own
heart, and gnaw it piecemeal, for not boding to me this
misfortune!
Mel. Be patient.
Lady Touch. Be damned!
Mel. Consider I have you on the hook; you will but
flounder yourself a-weary, and be nevertheless my prisoner.
Lady Touch. I'll hold my breath and die, but I'll be free.
Mel. O madam, have a care of dying unprepared. I doubt
you have some unrepcnted sins that may hang heavy, and
retard your flight.
Lady Touch. Oh, what shall I do? say? whither shall I
turn? Has hell no remedy?
Mel. None, hell has served you even as Heaven has done,
left you to yourself. — You're in a kind of Erasmus' paradise;
yet, if you please, you may make it a purgatory; and with