All’s Well That Ends Well

1 Enter an old Widow of Florence, Diana, Violenta, Mariana and other
2 Citizens.
3 WIDOW.
4 Nay, come; for if they do approach the city, we shall lose all the
5 sight.
6 DIANA.
7 They say the French count has done most honourable service.
8 WIDOW.
9 It is reported that he has taken their great’st commander, and that
10 with his own hand he slew the duke’s brother.
11 [_A tucket afar off._]
12 We have lost our labour; they are gone a contrary way. Hark! you may
13 know by their trumpets.
14 MARIANA.
15 Come, let’s return again, and suffice ourselves with the report of it.
16 Well, Diana, take heed of this French earl; the honour of a maid is her
17 name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty.
18 WIDOW.
19 I have told my neighbour how you have been solicited by a gentleman his
20 companion.
21 MARIANA.
22 I know that knave; hang him! one Parolles; a filthy officer he is in
23 those suggestions for the young earl. Beware of them, Diana; their
24 promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust,
25 are not the things they go under; many a maid hath been seduced by
26 them; and the misery is, example, that so terrible shows in the wreck
27 of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they
28 are limed with the twigs that threaten them. I hope I need not to
29 advise you further; but I hope your own grace will keep you where you
30 are, though there were no further danger known but the modesty which is
31 so lost.
32 DIANA.
33 You shall not need to fear me.
34 Enter Helena in the dress of a pilgrim.
35 WIDOW.
36 I hope so. Look, here comes a pilgrim. I know she will lie at my house;
37 thither they send one another; I’ll question her. God save you,
38 pilgrim! Whither are bound?
39 HELENA.
40 To Saint Jaques le Grand.
41 Where do the palmers lodge, I do beseech you?
42 WIDOW.
43 At the Saint Francis here, beside the port.
44 HELENA.
45 Is this the way?
46 [_A march afar._]
47 WIDOW.
48 Ay, marry, is’t. Hark you, they come this way.
49 If you will tarry, holy pilgrim,
50 But till the troops come by,
51 I will conduct you where you shall be lodg’d;
52 The rather for I think I know your hostess
53 As ample as myself.
54 HELENA.
55 Is it yourself?
56 WIDOW.
57 If you shall please so, pilgrim.
58 HELENA.
59 I thank you, and will stay upon your leisure.
60 WIDOW.
61 You came, I think, from France?
62 HELENA.
63 I did so.
64 WIDOW.
65 Here you shall see a countryman of yours
66 That has done worthy service.
67 HELENA.
68 His name, I pray you.
69 DIANA.
70 The Count Rossillon. Know you such a one?
71 HELENA.
72 But by the ear, that hears most nobly of him;
73 His face I know not.
74 DIANA.
75 Whatsome’er he is,
76 He’s bravely taken here. He stole from France,
77 As ’tis reported, for the king had married him
78 Against his liking. Think you it is so?
79 HELENA.
80 Ay, surely, mere the truth; I know his lady.
81 DIANA.
82 There is a gentleman that serves the count
83 Reports but coarsely of her.
84 HELENA.
85 What’s his name?
86 DIANA.
87 Monsieur Parolles.
88 HELENA.
89 O, I believe with him,
90 In argument of praise, or to the worth
91 Of the great count himself, she is too mean
92 To have her name repeated; all her deserving
93 Is a reserved honesty, and that
94 I have not heard examin’d.
95 DIANA.
96 Alas, poor lady!
97 ’Tis a hard bondage to become the wife
98 Of a detesting lord.
99 WIDOW.
100 Ay, right; good creature, wheresoe’er she is,
101 Her heart weighs sadly. This young maid might do her
102 A shrewd turn, if she pleas’d.
103 HELENA.
104 How do you mean?
105 Maybe the amorous count solicits her
106 In the unlawful purpose.
107 WIDOW.
108 He does indeed,
109 And brokes with all that can in such a suit
110 Corrupt the tender honour of a maid;
111 But she is arm’d for him, and keeps her guard
112 In honestest defence.
113 Enter, with a drum and colours, a party of the Florentine army,
114 Bertram and Parolles.
115 MARIANA.
116 The gods forbid else!
117 WIDOW.
118 So, now they come.
119 That is Antonio, the Duke’s eldest son;
120 That Escalus.
121 HELENA.
122 Which is the Frenchman?
123 DIANA.
124 He;
125 That with the plume; ’tis a most gallant fellow.
126 I would he lov’d his wife; if he were honester
127 He were much goodlier. Is’t not a handsome gentleman?
128 HELENA.
129 I like him well.
130 DIANA.
131 ’Tis pity he is not honest. Yond’s that same knave
132 That leads him to these places. Were I his lady
133 I would poison that vile rascal.
134 HELENA.
135 Which is he?
136 DIANA.
137 That jack-an-apes with scarfs. Why is he melancholy?
138 HELENA.
139 Perchance he’s hurt i’ the battle.
140 PAROLLES.
141 Lose our drum! Well.
142 MARIANA.
143 He’s shrewdly vex’d at something. Look, he has spied us.
144 WIDOW.
145 Marry, hang you!
146 MARIANA.
147 And your courtesy, for a ring-carrier!
148 [_Exeunt Bertram, Parolles, Officers and Soldiers._]
149 WIDOW.
150 The troop is past. Come, pilgrim, I will bring you
151 Where you shall host; of enjoin’d penitents
152 There’s four or five, to great Saint Jaques bound,
153 Already at my house.
154 HELENA.
155 I humbly thank you.
156 Please it this matron and this gentle maid
157 To eat with us tonight; the charge and thanking
158 Shall be for me; and, to requite you further,
159 I will bestow some precepts of this virgin,
160 Worthy the note.
161 BOTH.
162 We’ll take your offer kindly.
163 [_Exeunt._]