CASSIO
Do, good my friend.
[Exit Clown.]
[Enter Iago.]
In happy time, Iago.
IAGO
You have not been a-bed, then?
CASSIO
Why, no; the day had broke
Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in to your wife: my suit to her
Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona
Procure me some access.
IAGO
I’ll send her to you presently;
And I’ll devise a mean to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free.
CASSIO
I humbly thank you for’t.
[Exit Iago.]
I never knew
A Florentine more kind and honest.
[Enter Emilia.]
EMILIA
Good-morrow, good lieutenant; I am sorry
For your displeasure; but all will sure be well.
The general and his wife are talking of it;
And she speaks for you stoutly: the Moor replies
That he you hurt is of great fame in Cyprus
And great affinity, and that, in wholesome wisdom,
He might not but refuse you; but he protests he loves you
And needs no other suitor but his likings
To take the safest occasion by the front
To bring you in again.
CASSIO
Yet, I beseech you,—
If you think fit, or that it may be done,—
Give me advantage of some brief discourse
With Desdemona alone.
EMILIA
Pray you, come in:
I will bestow you where you shall have time
To speak your bosom freely.
CASSIO
I am much bound to you.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE II. Cyprus. A Room in the Castle.
[Enter Othello, Iago, and Gentlemen.]
OTHELLO
These letters give, Iago, to the pilot;
And by him do my duties to the senate:
That done, I will be walking on the works;
Repair there to me.
IAGO
Well, my good lord, I’ll do’t.
OTHELLO
This fortification, gentlemen,—shall we see’t?
GENTLEMEN
We’ll wait upon your lordship.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE III. Cyprus. The Garden of the Castle.
[Enter Desdemona, Cassio, and Emilia.]
DESDEMONA
Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do
All my abilities in thy behalf.
EMILIA
Good madam, do: I warrant it grieves my husband
As if the cause were his.
DESDEMONA
O, that’s an honest fellow.—Do not doubt, Cassio,
But I will have my lord and you again
As friendly as you were.
CASSIO
Bounteous madam,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
He’s never anything but your true servant.
DESDEMONA
I know’t,—I thank you. You do love my lord:
You have known him long; and be you well assur’d
He shall in strangeness stand no farther off
Than in a politic distance.
CASSIO
Ay, but, lady,
That policy may either last so long,
Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That, I being absent, and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service.
DESDEMONA
Do not doubt that; before Emilia here
I give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it
To the last article: my lord shall never rest;
I’ll watch him tame, and talk him out of patience;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift;
I’ll intermingle everything he does
With Cassio’s suit: therefore be merry, Cassio;
For thy solicitor shall rather die
Than give thy cause away.
EMILIA
Madam, here comes my lord.
CASSIO
Madam, I’ll take my leave.
DESDEMONA
Why, stay, and hear me speak.
CASSIO
Madam, not now. I am very ill at ease,
Unfit for mine own purposes.
DESDEMONA
Well, do your discretion.
[Exit Cassio.]
[Enter Othello and Iago.]
IAGO
Ha! I like not that.
OTHELLO
What dost thou say?
IAGO
Nothing, my lord: or if—I know not what.
OTHELLO
Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
IAGO
Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it,
That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.
OTHELLO
I do believe ‘twas he.
DESDEMONA
How now, my lord!
I have been talking with a suitor here,
A man that languishes in your displeasure.
OTHELLO
Who is’t you mean?
DESDEMONA