Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/170

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158
CROMWELL

That he'll return to prison!
Waller. That he'll return to prison! It is clear
That he is mad!
Lenthall. That he is mad! What reason doth impel
His Highness to entreat so affably
This old demoniac?
[Enter Thurloe.
Thurloe [saluting.] …demoniac? I come, my friends,
By the Protector's well-advised commands.
His Highness is unable to receive.
Col. Jephson [angrily.
Cromwell receives that knave, and him alone!

[Exeunt, with a discontented air.—When this last of them has left the hall, the masked door opens, and gives passage to Cromwell, who looks cautiously about.


Scene 13.—Cromwell, Sir Richard Willis.


Cromwell [turning to the open door.
They're gone.—Come you, and as it much imports
You be not seen, go out by this same door.

[Enter Sir Richard Willis. He is muffled in a cloak, and wears a broad-brimmed hat which conceals his features; there is no longer any indication of illness or exhaustion in his gait or in his voice. Cromwell and he walk together across the stage a few steps. Cromwell suddenly halts, and clasps his hands.

I may not doubt! My Richard! my first-born!
Willis.He drank the King Charles Stuart's health; and all
The arch-conspirators, your deadly foes,
Esteemed him over-bold.