Julia. Set them by.
Second Attendant. Indeed.
Was ne’er a braver set! A necklace, brooch,
And earrings all of brilliants, with a hoop
To guard your wedding ring.
Julia. ’Twould need a guard
That lacks a heart to keep it!
Second Attendant. Here’s a heart
Suspended from the necklace—one huge diamond
Imbedded in a host of smaller ones!
Oh! how it sparkles!
Julia. Show it me! Bright heart,
Thy lustre, should I wear thee, will be false,—
For thou the emblem art of love and truth,—
From her that wears thee unto him that gives thee.
Back to thy case! Better thou ne’er shouldst leave it—
Better thy gems a thousand fathoms deep
In their native mine again, than grace my neck,
And lend thy fair face to palm off a lie!
First Attendant. Will’t please you dress?
Julia. Ah! in infected clothes
New from a pest-house! Leave me! If I dress,
I dress alone! O for a friend! Time gallops!
[Attendants go out.]
He that should guard me is mine enemy!
Constrains me to abide the fatal die,
My rashness, not my reason cast! He comes,
That will exact the forfeit!—Must I pay it?—
E’en at the cost of utter bankruptcy!
What’s to be done? Pronounce the vow that parts
My body from my soul! To what it loathes
Links that, while this is linked to what it loves!
Condemned to such perdition! What’s to be done?
Stand at the altar in an hour from this!
An hour thence seated at his board—a wife
Thence!—frenzy’s in the thought! What’s to be done?
[Enter Master Walter.]