BERTUCCIO.
You have Bertuccio.
FRANCESCA.
Men call you faithless, bitter, loving wrong
For wrong's sake, Duke Manfredi's worst counsellor,
Still prompting him to evil.
BERTUCCIO.
How folks flatter!
FRANCESCA.
How, then, am I to trust you?
BERTUCCIO.
Monna Cecca,
You know the wild beasts that your husband keeps
Down in the castle fosse? There's a she-leopard
I lie and gaze at by the hour together;
So sleek, so graceful, and so dangerous!
I long to see her let loose on a man.
Trust me to draw the bolt, and loose my leopard.
FRANCESCA.
I'll trust your love of mischief—not of me.
BERTUCCIO.
That 's safest!
FRANCESCA.
I must know how fares this fancy
Of Duke Manfredi for yon pale Ginevra.
Mark him and her,—their meetings, communings;
I know you 're private with my lord.
