Queen's signature. I will write therein that the Queen is to give me ten thousand marks. They owe me something here at the Excise office, but I 'll not haggle. Ten thousand marks—nothing more. I do not ask you for the sum, because none but a crowned head can pay it. That is plain-speaking, it seems to me. You see, my lord, two men so clever as you and I have nothing to gain by deceiving each other. If outspokenness were banished from the earth, it would be found again, if at all, in the private converse of two sharpers.
Fabiani.Impossible. I cannot part with that signature. Ten thousand marks! What would the Queen say? And then, to-morrow I may be disgraced; and that signature in blank is my safeguard—it is my life.
The Man.What care I for that?
Fabiani.Ask me for something else.
The Man.I must have it.
Fabiani.Jew, give me Jane Talbot's papers.
The Man.My lord, give me the Queen's signature.
Fabiani.Go to, accursed Jew! I must needs submit.
[He takes a paper from his pocket.
The Man.Show me the Queen's signature.
Fabiani.Show me the Talbot papers.
The Man.Afterward.
[They go to the lantern. Fabiani, standing behind the Man, holds the paper before his eyes with the left hand. The Man examines it.
The Man [reading.]"We, Mary, Queen—" 'Tis well. I am like you, my lord, as you see. I have anticipated everything and provided for everything.
