MAR. Oh! do not fear! leave that to me; I am at least as angry as you; I
would rather remain a maid all my life than that my fat rascal should
give me any inclination for him again. If he comes...
SCENE V.--MARINETTE, LUCILE, ALBERT.
ALB. Go in, Lucile, and tell the tutor to come to me; I wish to have a
little talk with him; and as he is the master of Ascanio, find out what
is the cause that the latter has been of late so gloomy.
SCENE VI.--ALBERT, _alone_.
Into what an abyss of cares and perplexities does one unjust action
precipitate us. For a long time I have suffered a great deal because I
was too avaricious, and passed off a stranger for my dead son. When I
consider the mischief which followed I sincerely wish I had never
thought of it. Sometimes I dread to behold my family in poverty and
covered with shame, when the deception will be found out; at other times
I fear a hundred accidents that may happen to this son whom it concerns
me so much to preserve. If any business calls me abroad, I am afraid of
hearing, on my return, some such melancholy tidings as these: "You know,
I suppose? Have they not told you? Your son has a fever; or he has
broken his leg or his arm." In short, every moment, no matter what I do,
all kinds of apprehensions are continually entering into my head.
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