Act II, Scene V
SCENE FIVE.
-- A subterranean passage, hollowed in the mountain.
Enter STRUTT and PEASANTS, R.
Strut.
Faith, my lads, it's cold work this, climbing so near the summit
of Ætna, in a chill evening breeze -- yes, and fatiguing
work, too -- catching such game as we've been after is no boy's
play. Lord, what a chap my master must be, to be sure; when he
was making a man -- he thought he might as well have a wopper at
once, I suppose. Now I say, a little and good for my money. But,
however, we have quieted my gentleman, and I think we have done a
much better job than my master did in making him. And now I can
tell you a secret. This passage leads to the hermitage of father
Antonio; that you all know, so that's no secret; but what you
perhaps do not know is, that old Quadro, the prince's butler,
whenever he visits the holy father to confess, always brings a
bottle or two of prime old wine, which is received by the hermit
in lieu of penance; and so he makes his master pay for all his
sins, and purchases absolution for one by committing another. Now
my proposal is, that we adjourn to his cave and drink to the
future prosperity of the heroes who subdued the Monster.
(Shout, and exeunt, L.
Act
Scene
