THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE
MARTHA (alone)
God pardon my dear husband, he
Doth not in truth act well by me!
Forth in the world abroad to roam,
And leave me on the straw at home.
And yet his will I ne'er did thwart,
God knows, I lov'd him from my heart.
[She weeps.]
Perchance he's dead!—oh wretched state!—
Had I but a certificate!
(MARGARET comes.)
MARGARET
Dame Martha!
MARTHA
Gretchen?
MARGARET
Only think!
My knees beneath me well-nigh sink!
Within my press I've found today
Another case, of ebony.
And things—magnificent they are,
More costly than the first, by far.
MARTHA
You must not name it to your mother!
It would to shrift, just like the other.
MARGARET
Nay look at them! now only see!
MARTHA (dresses her up)
Thou happy creature!
MARGARET
Woe is me!
Them in the street I cannot wear,
Or in the church, or anywhere.
MARTHA
Come often over here to me,
The gems put on quite privately;
And then before the mirror walk an hour or so,
Thus we shall have our pleasure too.
Then suitable occasions we must seize,
As at a feast, to show them by degrees:
A chain at first, pearl ear-drops then,—your mother
Won't see them, or we'll coin some tale or other.
MARGARET
But, who, I wonder, could the caskets bring?
I fear there's something wrong about the thing!
[A knock.]
Good heavens! can that my mother be?
MARTHA (peering through the blind)
'Tis a strange gentleman, I see.
Come in!
[MEPHISTOPHELES enters.]