told upon the road had not been found at all, raises in my mind a strong
suspicion that Mascarille is a rogue, and an arrant rogue, who is proof
against fear or remorse, and who invents extraordinary stratagems to
compass his ends.

ANS. What! Am I tricked and made a fool of? Really, this would be a
compliment to my good sense! Let me touch him and be satisfied. This is,
indeed, the very man. What an ass I am! Pray, do not spread this story
about, for they will write a farce about it, and shame me for ever. But,
Pandolphus, help me to get the money back which I lent them to bury you.

PAND. Money, do you say? Oh! that is where the shoe pinches; that is the
secret of the whole affair! So much the worse for you. For my part, I
shall not trouble myself about it, but will go and lay an information
against this Mascarille, and if he can be caught he shall be hanged,
whatever the cost may be.

ANS. (_Alone_). And I, like a ninny, believe a scoundrel, and must
in one day lose both my senses and my money. Upon my word, it well
becomes me to have these gray hairs and to commit an act of folly so
readily, without examining into the truth of the first story I hear...!
But I see....




SCENE VI.--LELIO, ANSELMO.


LEL. Now, with this master-key, I can easily pay Trufaldin a visit.