“No, and swears she never will; that is the cause of her unhappiness.”
“’Tis true indeed,” put in Claudio. “‘Shall I,’ says she, ‘that have so often encountered him with scorn, write to him that I love him?’”
“‘I measure him by my own spirit,’ she says,” continued Leonato, “‘for I should flout him if he wrote to me—yea, though I love him, I should.’”
“And then she weeps and sobs, beats her heart, tears her hair,” said Claudio.
“My daughter is sometimes afraid she will do a desperate outrage to herself,” said Leonato.
“It were good if Benedick knew it from someone else, if she will not reveal it,” said Don Pedro.
“To what end?” asked Claudio. “He would make but a sport of it, and torment the poor lady worse.”
“If he did it would be a charity to hang him,” said Don Pedro indignantly. “She is an excellent, sweet lady.”
“And she is exceedingly wise,” put in Claudio.
“In everything but in loving Benedick,” said Don Pedro.