Lau. I say, let you go.
Vio. Nay, sweet sister Laura.
Lau. Nay, dear Violetta, it is in vain to contend; I am resolved I'll see it.
[Plucks the paper from Violetta.
Vio. But I am resolved you shall not read it. I know not what authority this is which you assume, or what privilege a year or two can give you, to use this sovereignty over me.
Lau. Do you rebel, young gentlewoman? I'll make you know I have a double right over you. One, as I have more years, and the other, as I have more wit.
Vio. Though I am not all air and fire, as you are, yet that little wit I have will serve to conduct my affairs without a governess.
Lau. No, gentlewoman, but it shall not. Are you fit, at fifteen, to be trusted with a maidenhead? It is as much as your betters can manage at full twenty.
For 'tis of a nature so subtile,
That, if it's not luted with care,
The spirit will work through the bottle,