Volume Ii Part 40 (1/2)

JACOB. I would not my father Isaac should hear;

MIDO. Nay, she will scarcely be still when she is dead, I do fear.

JACOB. But lo, I see my mother stand before the tent.

_Enter_ JACOB _and_ MIDO.

REBECCA. O Lord, methinketh long, son Jacob, since thou went.

JACOB. And methinketh, mother, we have hied us well.

MIDO. I have made many feet to follow, I can tell.

REBECCA. Give me thy kid, my son, and now let me alone, Bring thou in thine, Mido, and see thou be a stone.

MIDO. A stone? how should that be, mistress? I am a lad, And a boy alive, as good as e'er ye had: And now, in bringing home this kid, I have, I trow, Tried myself a man and a pretty fellow.

REBECCA. I meant thou shouldest nothing say.

MIDO. One warning is enough; ye bad us so last day.

REBECCA. Well, let me go in, and venison hereof make:

JACOB. And hearest thou, Mido? see that good heed thou take In any wise to come in my father's sight.

MIDO. Why, he seeth no better at noon than at midnight.

Is he not blind long since, and doth his eyes lack?

Therefore go in, dame, I bear an heavy pack.

REBECCA. I leave you here, Jacob, and heartily you pray That, when need shall require, you be not far away.

JACOB. I shall be ready, mother, whensoe'er you call.

[_Exit Rebecca_.

ACTUS QUARTI, SCAENA SEPTIMA.

JACOB. MIDO.

JACOB. O, how happy is that same daughter or that son, Whom the parents love with hearty affection!

And among all others how fortunate am I, Whom my mother Rebecca tend'reth so greatly?

If it lay in her to do any good, ye see, She would do her earnest devoir to prefer me.

But as for this matter, which she doth now intend, Without thy aid, O Lord, how should it come to end?

Nevertheless, forasmuch as my said mother Worketh upon thy word, O Lord, and none other, It shall become me to show mine obedience, And to thy promise, O Lord, to give due credence.

For what is so impossible to man's judgment, Which thou canst not with a beck perform incontinent?

Therefore thy will, O Lord, be done for evermore.

MIDO. O Jacob, I was never so afeard afore.

JACOB. Why, what new thing is chanced, Mido, I pray thee?