60 Plays: The George Bernard Shaw Edition (Illustrated). GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

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      CASHEL. Ha! true.

      LYDIA. — but we will make the sacrifice. She blushes:

       At least she very prettily produces

       Blushing’s effect.

      ADELAIDE. My lord: I do accept you. [They embrace. Rejoicings.

      CASHEL [aside]. It wrings my heart to see my noble backer

       Lay waste his future thus. The world’s a chessboard,

       And we the merest pawns in fist of Fate.

       [Aloud.] And now, my friends, gentle and simple both,

       Our scene draws to a close. In lawful course

       As Dorset’s deputy lieutenant I

       Do pardon all concerned this afternoon

       In the late gross and brutal exhibition

       Of miscalled sport.

      LYDIA [throwing herself into his arms]. Your boats

       are burnt at last.

      CASHEL. This is the face that burnt a thousand boats,

       And ravished Cashel Byron from the ring.

       But to conclude. Let William Paradise

       Devote himself to science, and acquire,

       By studying the player’s speech in Hamlet,

       A more refined address. You, Robert Mellish,

       To the Blue Anchor hostelry attend him;

       Assuage his hurts, and bid Bill Richardson

       Limit his access to the fatal tap.

       Now mount we on my backer’s four-in-hand,

       And to St. George’s Church, whose portico

       Hanover Square shuts off from Conduit Street,

       Repair we all. Strike up the wedding march;

       And, Mellish, let thy melodies trill forth

       Broad o’er the wold as fast we bowl along.

       Give me the post-horn. Loose the flowing rein;

       And up to London drive with might and main. [Exeunt.