All's Well, That Ends Well
All's Well, That Ends Well CLOWN. So say I, madam, if he run away, as I hear he does; the danger is in standing to’t; that’s the loss of men, though it be the getting of children. Here they come will tell you more. For my part, I only hear your son was run away.
[Exit.]
Enter Helena and the two Gentlemen.
FIRST GENTLEMAN. Save you, good madam.
HELENA. Madam, my lord is gone, for ever gone.
SECOND GENTLEMAN. Do not say so.
COUNTESS. Think upon patience. Pray you, gentlemen,— I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief That the first face of neither on the start Can woman me unto ’t. Where is my son, I pray you?
SECOND GENTLEMAN. Madam, he’s gone to serve the Duke of Florence; We met him thitherward, for thence we came, And, after some despatch in hand at court, Thither we bend again.
HELENA. Look on this letter, madam; here’s my passport.
[Reads.] When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of thy body that I am father to, then call me husband; but in such a “then” I write a “never”. This is a dreadful sentence.
COUNTESS. Brought you this letter, gentlemen?