[14] [The proverb is, Everything hath an end, and a pudding hath two.]
[16] [_i.e._, A fool. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 38.]
_Enter +Don Julio+ talking to himself, and at another door +Fernando+ who, perceiving it, stands close._
+Don J.+ Bless'd be the gods that yet my honour's safe Amidst such strange perplexities, from which Fortune and wit (I think) together join'd, With all their strength, could hardly an issue find. To temper, comfort, or to serve my friend What argument? what means? how to assist Don Pedro in his aims, and to comply With what I owe the duke, I see as little; And less conceive, how to behave myself, As ought a gentleman towards a lady, With whose protection he hath charg'd himself, And brought her to his house on that assurance; Whom to expose cannot consist with honour, However she may have expos'd her own; And (least of all) how to repair to Blanca The injury I have done her, whose high spirit, I fear, will be implacable. O heavens! What a condition's mine?
[_He stands pausing, and startles, seeing +Don Fernando+._
+Don F.+ Pardon, dear cousin, if, to avoid one rudeness, I have another unawares committed. Whilst fearing t' interrupt, I have o'erheard; Yet nothing, cousin, but the self-same things My thoughts have been revolving all this night, Concern'd for you, much more than for myself; For I, upon reflection, find I am Much easier than I was; by certainty Freed from the sorest weight, perplexity. In the first place you must forgive your friend The high distemper of last night's transportments: I hope you'll find me well recovered from them, And that my morning resolutions are Such as will make amends.
+Don J.+ Make no excuses, dear friend: such provocations Surprising are above philosophy; And 'tis no small experiment of yours, If after them you can have brought yourself So soon to fix a judgment what to do.
+Don F.+ I have fix'd on that, which I am sure will serve All interests but my own, as heretofore I understood my happiness; but now I shall no longer place it in anything Dependent on the wild caprice[17] of others. No, Julio, I will be happy even in spite of fate, By carrying generosity up to th' height. Elvira shall her dear bliss owe to me, Not only by desisting, but by making Her lov'd Don Zancho marry her: his refusal Alone can make me kill him o'er again.