QU.  ELIN.  No words to me, Earl Robert, ere you go?

ROB.  H. O, to your highness? yes; adieu, proud queen;
Had not you been, thus poor I had not been.
          
                                   [Exit.

QU.  ELIN.  Thou wrong’st me, Robert Earl of Huntington,
And were it not for pity of this maid,
I would revenge the words that thou hast said.

MAR.  Add not, fair queen, distress unto distress,
But, if you can, for pity make his less.

QU.  ELIN.  I can and will forget deserving hate,
And give him comfort in this woful state. 
Marian, I know Earl Robert’s whole desire
Is to have thee with him from hence away;
And though I lov’d him dearly to this day,
Yet since I see he deadlier loveth thee,
Thou shalt have all the furtherance I may. 
Tell me, fair girl, and see thou truly tell,
Whether this night, to-morrow, or next day,
There be no ’pointment for to meet thy love?

MAR.  There is, this night there is, I will not lie;
And, be it disappointed, I shall die.

QU.  ELIN.  Alas, poor soul! my son, Prince John, my son,
With several troops hath circuited the court,
This house, the city, that thou canst not ’scape.

MAR.  I will away with Death, though he be grim,
If they deny me to go hence with him.

QU.  ELIN.  Marian,
Thou shalt go with him clad in my attire,
And for a shift I’ll put thy garments on. 
It is not me my son John doth desire,
But, Marian, it is thee he doteth on. 
When thou and I are come into the field,
Or any other place, where Robin stays,
Me in thy clothes the ambush will beset;
Thee in my robes they dare not once approach: 
So, while with me a-reasoning they stay,
At pleasure thou with him may’st ride away.

MAR.  I am beholding to your majesty,
And of this plot will send my Robin word.

QU.  ELIN.  Nay, never trouble him, lest it breed suspect: 
But get thee in, and shift off thy attire: 
My robe is loose, and it will soon be off. 
Go, gentle Marian, I will follow thee,
And from betrayers’ hands will set thee free.

MAR.  I thank your highness, but I will not trust ye: 
My Robert shall have knowledge of this shift,
For I conceive already your deep drift.
                                     [Aside.  Exit.

QU.  ELIN.  Now shall I have my will of Huntington
Who, taking me this night for Marian,
Will hurry me away instead of her;
For he dares not stand trifling to confer. 
Faith, pretty Marian, I shall meet with you,[174]
And with your lovely sweetheart Robert too: 
For when we come unto a baiting-place,
If with like love my love he do not grace,
Of treason capital I will accuse him,
For trait’rous forcing me out of the court,
And guerdon his disdain with guilty death,
That of a prince’s love so lightly weighs.