158
CROMWELL
That he'll return to prison!
Waller. It is clear
That he is mad!
Lenthall. What reason doth impel
His Highness to entreat so affably
This old demoniac?
[Enter Thurloe.
Thurloe [saluting.] I come, my friends,
By the Protector's well-advised commands.
His Highness is unable to receive.
Col. Jephson [angrily.
Cromwell receives that knave, and him alone!
[Exeunt, with a discontented air.—When this last of them has left the hall, the masked door opens, and gives passage to Cromwell, who looks cautiously about.
Scene 13.—Cromwell, Sir Richard Willis.
Cromwell [turning to the open door.
They're gone.—Come you, and as it much imports
You be not seen, go out by this same door.
[Enter Sir Richard Willis. He is muffled in a cloak, and wears a broad-brimmed hat which conceals his features; there is no longer any indication of illness or exhaustion in his gait or in his voice. Cromwell and he walk together across the stage a few steps. Cromwell suddenly halts, and clasps his hands.
I may not doubt! My Richard! my first-born!
Willis.He drank the King Charles Stuart's health; and all
The arch-conspirators, your deadly foes,
Esteemed him over-bold.
