William Shakespeare: King Henry VI, Second Part

ACT II 1. SCENE I. Saint Alban's. (continued)

CARDINAL.
[Aside to Gloster.] And so, my lord protector,
by this means
Your lady is forthcoming yet at London.
This news, I think, hath turn'd your weapon's edge;
'T is like, my lord, you will not keep your hour.

GLOSTER.
Ambitious churchman, leave to afflict my heart.
Sorrow and grief have vanquish'd all my powers;
And, vanquish'd as I am, I yield to thee,
Or to the meanest groom.

KING.
O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones,
Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!

QUEEN.
Gloster, see here the tainture of thy nest;
And look thyself be faultless, thou wert best.

GLOSTER.
Madam, for myself, to heaven I do appeal,
How I have lov'd my king and commonweal;
And, for my wife, I know not how it stands.
Sorry I am to hear what I have heard;
Noble she is; but if she have forgot
Honour and virtue, and convers'd with such
As like to pitch defile nobility,
I banish her my bed and company,
And give her as a prey to law and shame,
That hath dishonoured Gloster's honest name.

KING.
Well, for this night we will repose us here;
To-morrow toward London back again,
To look into this business thoroughly,
And call these foul offenders to their answers,
And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.

[Flourish. Exeunt.]