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FIRST MURDERER Remember our reward when the deed’s done.
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FIRST MURDERER Remember the reward we’re getting when the deed’s done.
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SECOND MURDERER Zounds, he dies! I had forgot the reward.
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SECOND MURDERER Jesus, let’s kill him! I forgot about the reward.
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FIRST MURDERER Where’s thy conscience now?
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FIRST MURDERER Where’s your conscience now?
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SECOND MURDERER O, in the duke of Gloucester’s purse.
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SECOND MURDERER Oh, in the duke of Gloucester’s wallet.
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FIRST MURDERER
120So when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy
conscience flies out.
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FIRST MURDERER When he opens his wallet to give us our pay, your conscience will fly out?
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SECOND MURDERER 'Tis no matter. Let it go. There’s few or none will entertain it.
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SECOND MURDERER It won’t matter. Let it fly out. No one will listen to it.
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FIRST MURDERER What if it come to thee again?
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FIRST MURDERER And what will you do if it returns to you?
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SECOND MURDERER I’ll not meddle with it. It makes a man a coward: a man
cannot steal but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear but it
checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbor’s wife but it
detects him. 'Tis a blushing, shamefaced spirit that
mutinies in a man’s bosom. It fills a man full of obstacles. It
made me once restore a purse of gold that by chance I
found. It beggars any man that keeps it. It is turned out of
towns and cities for a dangerous thing, and every man that
means to live well endeavors to trust to himself and live
without it.
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SECOND MURDERER I won’t bother with it. Conscience makes a man a coward. If he steals, it accuses him. If he wants to swear, it restrains him. If he sleeps with his neighbor’s wife, it exposes him. It blushes, is easily embarrassed, and stages regular uprisings in a man’s heart. It’s just too much trouble. It once made me return a purse full of money that I found—it turns anyone who treats it decently into a beggar. It has been thrown out of all sorts of towns and cities it visits, and anyone who wants to live well should learn to trust only himself and live without it.
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FIRST MURDERER Zounds, ’tis even now at my elbow, persuading me
not to kill the duke.
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FIRST MURDERER My God, now the thing is at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke.
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SECOND MURDERER Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not. He would
insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh.
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SECOND MURDERER Stop your conscience and don’t listen to him. He wants to take over your thoughts and make you sad.
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FIRST MURDERER I am strong-framed. He cannot prevail with me.
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FIRST MURDERER I’m strong-willed. He won’t get the better of me.
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