SCARLET
I cannot rest for thinking that some harm
Hath chanced to Robin. Call him yet once more.
[Little John blows his bugle. All is silent. They stand listening.]
Scene III. A gloomy cell. Robin bound. Prince John and two mercenaries. A low narrow door in the background, small barred window on the left.
PRINCE JOHN
[To the Mercenaries.]
Leave us a moment. I have private matters
To lay before this friend of all the poor.
You may begin to build the door up now,
So that you do not wall me in with him.
[The two men begin filling up the doorway with rude blocks of masonry.]
So now, my good green foot-pad, you are trapped
At last, trapped in the practice of your trade!
Trapped, as you took your stolen Norman gold
To what was it—a widow, or Saxon serf
With eye put out for breaking forest laws?
You hold with them, it seems. Your dainty soul
Sickens at our gross penalties; and so
We'll not inflict them on your noble self,
Although we have the power. There's not a soul
Can ever tell where Robin Hood is gone.
These walls will never echo it.
[He taps the wall with his sword.]