Blan. I know not your Don Pedro; but I'm sure
One to be tied in chains could do no more,
That he has done.
Don J. Have patience, sister: 'tis Elvira's father,
With cares enough upon him to justify
Any distemper.
Blan. Precious! Elvira's father?—
Nay, then I leave you. [Blanca flings out of the room.
Don F. O the unluckiness of his coming
So unseasonably! 'Twas to prevent that,
I went abroad to seek him. [Aside.
Don P. What's this, Don Julio? can a gentleman
Of blood and honour use another thus?
What, after such engagements to the Duke
And to myself to be my friend and helper,
To prove the shelter of my shame's chief author?
I do not wonder now Don Zancho himself
Should have been here at midnight.
Don J. I am hard put to't: help, wit, to bring us off. [Aside.
Be as distemper'd as you please, Don Pedro,
It shall not alter me! but yet methinks
It would not ill become your gravity,
To think a while, before you make a judgment,
And rashly frame injurious conclusions
From things, wherein a friend has merited from you.
Do but consider, and then say, what Julio
Could do of more advance to what you wish,
Than, having found your daughter, to have brought her
To his own house, where she might be with honour
Accompanied, and serv'd as such by Blanca,
Until such time as, things maturely weigh'd,
You should a final resolution take.
And since Don Zancho's being here last night,
I see 's no secret t' ye, methinks you ought
T' have been so just to me, as to believe
That, since I admitted him within these walls,
It was in order to the serving you.
Don P. Noble Don Julio, you must pity have
Of an old man's distemper in affliction.
I see I was in the wrong; pray, pardon it.
Don J. O, this is more than needs. And now, good sir,
If you'll be pleas'd to walk a turn or two
I' the garden, I'll there give you a full account
How I have laid things for your satisfaction.
Don P. I'll wait on you.
Don J. Go, sir, there lies your way;
And you, boy, fail not, when Don Zancho comes,