Much Ado Act 2 Scene 2 William Shakespeare

SCENE II. The same.

Enter DON JOHN and BORACHIO

DON JOHN
It is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the
daughter of Leonato.

BORACHIO
Yea, my lord; but I can cross it.

DON JOHN
Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be
medicinable to me: I am sick in displeasure to him,
and whatsoever comes athwart his affection ranges
evenly with mine. How canst thou cross this marriage?

BORACHIO
Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no
dishonesty shall appear in me.

DON JOHN
Show me briefly how.

BORACHIO
I think I told your lordship a year since, how much
I am in the favour of Margaret, the waiting
gentlewoman to Hero.
DON JOHN
I remember.

BORACHIO
I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night,
appoint her to look out at her lady's chamber window.

DON JOHN
What life is in that, to be the death of this marriage?

BORACHIO
The poison of that lies in you to temper. Go you to
the prince your brother; spare not to tell him that
he hath wronged his honour in marrying the renowned
Claudio--whose estimation do you mightily hold
up--to a contaminated stale, such a one as Hero.

DON JOHN
What proof shall I make of that?

BORACHIO
Proof enough to misuse the prince, to vex Claudio,
to undo Hero and kill Leonato. Look you for any
other issue?

DON JOHN
Only to despite them, I will endeavour any thing.