Act 3 — SCENE IX
Reading edition
LAFFEMAS (alone).
Humph!
The wretched juggler! Pride in such base souls!
If you some day should fall into my hands
Unoccupied with better sort of game—
But this will not find Didier! Now, I can't
Take all this crowd and put them to the torture.
This is worse work than hunting needles in
A haystack. Faith! a chemist's crucible
Bewitched I ought to have, which, eating up
The lead and copper, would reveal at last
The golden ingot hid by much alloy.
Go to the Cardinal without my prize?
[Striking his brow.
That's it! The clever thought! Oh, joy! He's mine!
[Calling through the barn door.
Ho, gentlemen, comedians! one word, please.
[The actors crowd out of the barn.