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PALAMON We dare not fail thee, Theseus.

THESEUS Come, I'll give ye

Now usage like to princes and to friends.

When ye return, who wins I'll settle here,

Who loses, yet I'll weep upon his bier.

[Exeunt. The bush is removed.]

ACT IV, Scene 1

Enter the Jailer and his Friend.

JAILER Hear you no more? Was nothing said of me

Concerning the escape of Palamon?

Good sir, remember.

FRIEND Nothing that I heard,

For I came home before the business

Was fully ended. Yet I might perceive,

Ere I departed, a great likelihood

Of both their pardons: for Hippolyta

And fair-eyed Emily upon their knees

Begged with such handsome pity that the Duke,

Methought, stood staggering whether he should follow ...

His rash oath or the sweet compassion

Of those two ladies; and to second them

That truly noble prince, Pirithous --

Half his own heart -- set in too, that I hope

All shall be well. Neither heard I one question

Of your name or his scape. [Enter the Second Friend.]

JAILER Pray heaven it hold so.

2 FRIEND Be of good comfort, man. I bring you news,

Good news.

JAILER They are welcome.

2 FRIEND Palamon has cleared you,

And got your pardon, and discovered how

And by whose means he scaped -- which was your daughter's, ...

Whose pardon is procured too; and the prisoner,

Not to be held ungrateful to her goodness,

Has given a sum of money to her marriage --

A large one, I'll assure you.

JAILER Ye are a good man,

And ever bring good news.

1 FRIEND How was it ended?

2 FRIEND Why, as it should be: they that ne'er begged,

But they prevailed, had their suits fairly granted --

The prisoners have their lives.

1 FRIEND I knew't would be so.

2 FRIEND But there be new conditions which you'll hear of

At better time.

JAILER I hope they are good.

2 FRIEND They are honorable -- ...

How good they'll prove I know not. [Enter the Wooer.]

1 FRIEND 'Twill be known.

WOOER Alas, sir, where's your daughter?

JAILER Why do you ask?

WOOER O, sir, when did you see her?

2 FRIEND How he looks!

JAILER This morning.

WOOER Was she well? Was she in health?

Sir, when did she sleep?

1 FRIEND These are strange questions.

JAILER I do not think she was very well: for now

You make me mind her, but this very day

I asked her questions and she answered me

So far from what she was, so childishly,

So sillily, as if she were a fool, ...

An innocent -- and I was very angry.

But what of her, sir?

WOOER Nothing but my pity --

But you must know it, and as good by me

As by another that less loves her --

JAILER Well, sir?

1 FRIEND Not right?

WOOER No, sir, not well.

2 FRIEND Not well?

WOOER 'Tis too true -- she is mad.

1 FRIEND It cannot be.

WOOER Believe, you'll find it so.

JAILER I half suspected

What you told me -- the gods comfort her!

Either this was her love to Palamon,

Or fear of my miscarrying on his scape, ...

Or both.

WOOER 'Tis likely.

JAILER But why all this haste, sir?

WOOER I'll tell you quickly. As I late was angling

In the great lake that lies behind the palace,

As patiently I was attending sport,

I heard a voice -- a shrill one -- and attentive

I gave my ear, when I might well perceive

'Twas one that sung, and by the smallness of it

A boy or woman. I then left my angle

To his own skill, came hear, but yet perceived not ...

Who made the sound, the rushes and the reeds

Had so encompassed it. I laid me down

And listened to the words she sung, for then,

Through a small glade cut by the fishermen,

I saw it was your daughter.

JAILER Pray go on, sir.

WOOER She sung much, but no sense; only I heard her

Repeat this often -- 'Palamon is gone,

Is gone to th' wood to gather mulberries;

I'll find him out tomorrow.'

1 FRIEND Pretty soul!

WOOER 'His shackles will betray him -- he'll be taken, ...

And what shall I do then? I'll bring a bevy,

A hundred black-eyed maids that love as I do,

With chaplets on their heads of daffodillies,

With cherry lips and cheeks of damask roses,

And all we'll dance