SGANARELLE( DISGUISED AS CLUTTERBUCK): You call for help from me, a thief? Here’ s aid! [ STRIKES SCAPIN WITH A CUDGEL AND FLEES.]
SCAPIN: Alack, undone! But this is wild as it is rude! I’ ll have the constable put in the stocks this quondam sir who pays a debt and then heists it. Daft! And how I always did aver this Clutterbuck an upright man. What cheek! I’ ll have him clapt! Defaulting is a crime of state but robbery makes good men hate.
MASCARILLE( DISGUISED AS SGANARELLE— AT A DISTANCE): No need to victimize Scapin, he’ s emptied of emolument. I’ ll follow where my master firks and learn more of his addled works.
SCENE III— SGANARELLE DISGUISED AS CLUTTERBUCK, MASCARILLE DISGUISED AS SGANARELLE( HIDDEN).
SGANARELLE( DISGUISED AS CLUTTERBUCK): Aye, you may ask— do villains have remorse? Broken sleeps? Disordered bowels? Nay, I’ ll have you know— our villainy’ s as fit as two wings on a bird of prey. Mankind in bulk is a stockpile of indecision and thin wit. Most people live without resolve and crave desires second-hand. They are but puppets and servants who crowd the world with blank gestures but only act their parts devised by those who make utensils think. The rabble be nonentities, empty ghouls and duplicates who wait for meals and thank their turn without knowing why they were born. Destiny, not unlike land, is a resource sui generis;