_L._ Good heavens, Diana! I hope you do not think He has ever done so.
_D._ No: of course he wouldn’t. But ’tis a fact men do such things; and that Not with one woman only. And ’tis true That there are ladies who admit the addresses 1570 Of more than one man.
_D._ Indeed, ’Tis true: and women are to blame if men Make them their sport. Thou’rt shocked: but ’tis a fact That this detested pestilence invades Earth’s every nook: my palace doors and bolts, My strong precautions, my well-known regard For strictness, my injunctions, my example, Cannot expel it.
_L._ Pray, Diana, tell me What it is: you frighten me. Was any caught Breaking the rules, or is it but suspicion? 1580
_D._ Of the two criminals, the man I know, The woman I know not; but if I knew her, I am in the mood to kill her.
_L._ (_aside_). Thank heaven, she does not guess me— Who is the man?
_D._ Better not ask; it matters not to thee: But thou canst help me find this erring Eve. If thou’st observed in any of the maids Conscious behaviour, scrupulous regard To petty adornment, or, what most betrays, An inconsiderate blushing....
_L._ (_aside_). The maids, she says! 1590 One of the maids! Good heavens!—
_D._ Marcela: Could it be she? She is handsome.
_L._ ’Tis not she: She tells me all her secrets.
_L._ (_aside_). To save myself I had best fall in with this.
_L._ If there’s any one who might be charged With levity....
_L._ I should say, 1600 If there’s one frivolous, and more than others Unapt to profit by the rules....
_D._ Flora?—pooh! pooh! Flora’s almost a hoyden.
_D._ They meet at night, Laura: unless he dares To pass my chamber-door, ’tis in the garden. Your window looks that way. I thought last night You might have heard them.
_L._ Why, it’s very unlikely I should hear through the window.
_D._ Still, your window Gives you an opportunity to watch. 1610 You could step out and hide in the garden.
_D._ I would not ask my sister to play spy, If it were possible that any scandal Dared with its spotted finger point at her.
_D._ If I tell,— And you must know,—promise you will not breathe it.
_D._ No, ’tis not incredible. Nothing is incredible of any man. And, Laura, I know that he is in love. He carries A portrait of his lady in his pocket. 1621