And let me go; it is our country calls.

_Mr. Secord_. Ah, dearest wife, thou dost not realize
All my deep promise, "guard thee as myself?"
I meant to guard thee doubly, trebly more.

_Mrs. Secord_. There you were wrong. The law says "as thyself
Thou shalt regard thy neighbour."

_Mr. Secord_. My neighbour! Then is that all that thou art
To me, thy husband? Shame! thou lovest me not.
My neighbour!

_Mrs. Secord_. Why now, fond ingrate! What saith _the Book?_
"THE GOOD, with all thy soul and mind and strength;
Thy neighbour as thyself." Thou must _not_ love
Thyself, nor me, as thou _must_ love the Good.
Therefore, I am thy neighbour; loved as thyself:
And as thyself wouldst go to warn Fitzgibbon
If thou wert able, so I, being able,
Thou must let me go--thy other self.
Pray let me go!

_Mr. Secord_ (_after a pause_). Thou shalt, dear wife, thou shalt.
I'll say no more.
Thy courage meets the occasion. Hope shall be
My standard-bearer, and put to shame
The cohorts black anxiety calls up.
But how shall I explain to prying folks
Thine absence?