Pala. Ay, boy; there dame Nature’s in the case:  He, who cannot find wit in a mistress, deserves to find nothing else, boy.  But these are riddles to thee, child, and I have not leisure to instruct thee; I have affairs to dispatch, great affairs; I am a man of business.

Dor. Come, you shall not go:  You have no affairs but what you may dispatch here, to my knowledge.

Pala. I find now, thou art a boy of more understanding than I thought thee; a very lewd wicked boy:  O’ my conscience, thou would’st debauch me, and hast some evil designs upon my person.

Dor. You are mistaken, sir; I would only have you shew me a more lawful reason why you would leave me, than I can why you should not, and I’ll not stay you; for I am not so young, but I understand the necessities of flesh and blood, and the pressing occasions of mankind, as well as you.

Pala. A very forward and understanding boy! thou art in great danger of a page’s wit, to be brisk at fourteen, and dull at twenty.  But I’ll give thee no further account; I must, and will go.

Dor. My life on it, your mistress is not at home.

Pala. This imp will make me very angry.—­I tell thee, young sir, she is at home, and at home for me; and, which is more, she is a-bed for me, and sick for me.

Dor. For you only?

Pala. Aye, for me only.

Dor. But how do you know she’s sick a-bed?

Pala. She sent her husband word so.

Dor. And are you such a novice in love, to believe a wife’s message to her husband?

Pala. Why, what the devil should be her meaning else?

Dor. It may be, to go in masquerade, as well as you; to observe your haunts, and keep you company without your knowledge.

Pala. Nay, I’ll trust her for that:  She loves me too well, to disguise herself from me.

Dor. If I were she, I would disguise on purpose to try your wit; and come to my servant like a riddle,—­Read me, and take me.

Pala. I could know her in any shape:  My good genius would prompt me to find out a handsome woman:  There’s something that would attract me to her without my knowledge.

Dor. Then you make a load-stone of your mistress?

Pala. Yes, and I carry steel about me, which has been so often touched, that it never fails to point to the north pole.

Dor. Yet still my mind gives me, that you have met her disguised to-night, and have not known her.

Pala. This is the most pragmatical conceited little fellow, he will needs understand my business better than myself.  I tell thee, once more, thou dost not know my mistress.

Dor. And I tell you once more, that I know her better than you do.

Pala. The boy’s resolved to have the last word.  I find I must go without reply. [Exit.