Page:CromwellHugo.djvu/313

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ACT FOURTH. THE SENTINEL
301

They'll soon be tearing at each other's throats.
[Gazing at the starry shy.
How lovely is the night!
Cromwell [aside.] …ly is the night! This impious Jew
After yon babbling courtier! The vile crow
Succeeds the magpie. Kuthless, undismayed,
Without remorse, he hastens hitherward,
To seek upon the field his feast of corpses.
Manasseh [with his glass turned upon the sky.
Meanwhile, till the conspirators appear,
I'll study for a bit the curves described
By Eta's satellites in Tau's domain.
I'll knock upon the portal of the temple
With the sacred hammer.
[He puts his eye to the telescope, then pauses.
With the sacred hammer. Only twelve per cent!
In this emergency, doubtless I might
Have forced from Ormond twofold usury.
Cromwell [aside.]Banker to Cavaliers, and Cromwell's spy!
Manasseh [with his eye at the telescope.
The line is curved like a ram's horn, good lack!—
But I've those caroluses from Cologne;
And, clipped or not, good caroluses win.—
In very truth, the eclipse, in that event—
Ten on the dollars, on the ducats nine.
Yes, Cromwell, Ormond, I beguile them both.

[At this moment the periodical cry of the sentinel is heard in the distance.

All goes well! are you on guard?
Cromwell [impatiently, aside.
Why must they interrupt me at this moment!
None but the owls are frighted by their cry.
But I must answer.