Since the drought came they drift about in a throng,
Like autumn leaves blown by the dreary winds.
Come, deal--come, deal.

FIRST MERCHANT. Who will come deal with us?

SHEMUS. They are out of spirit, Sir, with lack of food,
Save four or five. Here, sir, is one of these;
The others will gain courage in good time.

MIDDLE-AGED-MAN. I come to deal--if you give honest price.

FIRST MERCHANT (reading in a book)
John Maher, a man of substance, with dull mind,
And quiet senses and unventurous heart.
The angels think him safe." Two hundred crowns,
All for a soul, a little breath of wind.

THE MAN. I ask three hundred crowns. You have read there
That no mere lapse of days can make me yours.

FIRST MERCHANT.
There is something more writ here--"often at night
He is wakeful from a dread of growing poor,
And thereon wonders if there's any man
That he could rob in safety."

A PEASANT. Who'd have thought it?
And I was once alone with him at midnight.