Flor. I would have died for thee,
Joy doth not kill! [Points to BASIL.]
O, order them to free him;
He is thy brother, would have sav’d thee, though
For a base guerdon; yet he would have sav’d thee.

An Officer. We cannot free him!

Basil. [Points to Wyckoff.] Why not take him too?—­ He is guiltier than I am.—­

Wyck. [Aloud.] Traitor!  O Thou most pernicious traitor. [Aside.] Damn him, coward!  He will tell all, unless I stop it thus.

[Draws his sword.]

This for the Commonwealth! [Stabs BASIL.]

Basil. O, I am kill’d!  Will ye see this?—­ [To Arthur.] Revenge me, some of you!

[Falls into the Soldiers arms and is borne off, U.E.R.]

Officer. [Points to WYCKOFF.] Seize him, ye have a warrant for his life.  The scaffold were defil’d.  Unto the gallows!

[WYCKOFF is borne off struggling.]

Wyck. ’Twas for the state!  O mercy! 
Arthur Walton! 
He would have slain you!  Mercy! mercy—­

Arth. [Supporting Florence.] Heaven!  How just and awful these thy punishments.

Enter CROMWELL attended, L.

Crom. I did you wrong, yet eagerly excused The death I thought you merited.

Arth. My Lord,
I owe no malice, and I wish you well,
As you shall deal with England, whose sad shores
I fain would quit awhile with her I love,
After these heavy griefs.

Crom. And you will leave me? 
I would it were not so; for all around
I am hemm’d in by doubters.  Perfidy
Makes mouths at me.  Suspicion rears her head,
Hissing upon my path.  And my friends drop off,
Leaving a sting behind! 
Stay!  Arthur Walton,
England doth bid thee stay!

Arth. I came here, when
A king did threaten England’s liberties,
Her charter’d rights.  He cannot threaten now. 
His power has pass’d to others.  I am not
Ambitious.  If they use it well, ’tis well,
And I am needed not—­

Crom. [Crosses to R.] Farewell, then, Sir;
But not, I trust, for ever.  Go, in peace,
Amid the voices of the nations hear and note
What they shall say of England and of Cromwell. 
Farewell, sweet lady, pray for her and me.

[To FLORENCE.]

Come, I have business, both of you, farewell!

[Exeunt all, but WILLIAM and HOST.]

Host. Confess now, I have done well in discovering these villanies.

Will. Ay, thou art an Eldorado of cunning.

Host. Herein you see the man of experience:  I did not rush to tell it all directly.

Will. No, indeed, thou didst not, and had I not been there to extract the pearl of discovery from the jaw-bone of ignorance with the forceps of discernment, my Master by this time had been sped.