William Shakespeare: King Henry VI, First Part

ACT FIFTH 3. SCENE III. Before Angiers. (continued)

MARGARET.
Say, Earl of Suffolk,--if thy name be so--
What ransom must I pay before I pass?
For I perceive I am thy prisoner.

SUFFOLK.
How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit,
Before thou make a trial of her love?

MARGARET.
Why speak'st thou not? what ransom must I pay?

SUFFOLK.
She's beautiful and therefore to be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore to be won.

MARGARET.
Wilt thou accept of ransom? yea, or no.

SUFFOLK.
Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife;
Then how can Margaret be thy paramour?

MARGARET.
I were best leave him, for he will not hear.

SUFFOLK.
There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling card.

MARGARET.
He talks at random; sure, the man is mad.

SUFFOLK.
And yet a dispensation may be had.

MARGARET.
And yet I would that you would answer me.

SUFFOLK.
I'll win this Lady Margaret. For whom?
Why, for my king; tush, that 's a wooden thing!

MARGARET.
He talks of wood: it is some carpenter.

SUFFOLK.
Yet so my fancy may be satisfied,
And peace established between these realms.
But there remains a scruple in that too;
For though her father be the King of Naples,
Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor,
And our nobility will scorn the match.

MARGARET.
Hear ye, captain, are you not at leisure?

SUFFOLK.
It shall be so, disdain they ne'er so much:
Henry is youthful and will quickly yield.
Madam, I have a secret to reveal.

MARGARET.
What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight,
And will not any way dishonor me.