LEAND. What I state here I have from very good authority.
LEL. Whoever told you so is a scoundrel and a rascal. Nobody can
discover the least blemish in this young lady; I know her heart well.
LEAND. But yet Mascarille is a very competent judge in such a cause; he
thinks her guilty.
LEL. He?
LEAND. He himself.
LEL. Does he pretend impudently to slander a most respectable young
lady, thinking, perhaps, I should only laugh at it? I will lay you a
wager he eats his words.
LEAND. I will lay you a wager he does not.
LEL. 'Sdeath! I would break every bone in his body should he dare to
assert such lies to me,
LEAND. And I will crop his ears, if he does not prove every syllable he
has told me.
SCENE IV.--LELIO, LEANDER, MASCARILLE.
LEL. Oh! that's lucky; there he is. Come hither, cursed hangdog!
MASC. What is the matter?
LEL. You serpent's tongue! so full of lies! dare you fasten your stings
on Celia, and slander the most consummate virtue that ever added lustre
to misfortune?
MASC. (_In a whisper to Lelio_). Gently; I told him so on purpose.
LEL. No, no; none of your winking, and none of your jokes. I am blind
and deaf to all you do or say. If it were my own brother he should pay
dear for it; for to dare defame her whom I adore is to wound me in the
most tender part.
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