Alice Duer Miller

“ Thither, after a few minutes, the two girls withdrew, and were not seen again that day.
They found that Juliet's nurse had already made Mercutio comfortable. She had laid him in a high, canopied bed the curtains of which could be dropped if it became necessary to conceal the occupant, and had given him the soothing draught and cooling drink left by the surgeon.
There is nothing perhaps which women admire more than cheerful courage under physical suffering, and when that courage is heightened by gayety and wit, it becomes irresistible. ”

“ Juliet dropped her eyes. Sheltered as she was by her parents, she had never heard a whisper of Romeo's devotion to her cousin, although it was the gossip of all Verona. She had not the faintest suspicion that it was of her own husband Rosaline was speaking. Her only thought was that she was grateful that her father had always had a prejudice against keeping dogs in their orchard. ”

“ She was bitterly ashamed to be tied forever to a man whose habit was to o'erperch any convenient orchard wall—to sigh to any pretty woman. She remembered with shame how much of the courtship had been done by her. Probably Romeo had never had any idea of marrying her—most likely he expected all women to be as obdurate as Rosaline. ”

“ The blinds were lowered, but as the girls talked they had approached the window and between the cracks they stared down into the square. It was almost deserted, but just as Juliet had opened her mouth to say, “What think'st thou of Mercutio, dearest coz?” who should come stepping round the corner but the man himself, talking to his friend Benvolio.
A little smile curved Rosaline's somewhat thin lips. “Aye,” she said, and her voice took on a softer tone, “there's a gallant spirit—there's a man. ”

“ Why thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes. Why,” cried Mercutio, clapping his friend on the shoulder, “thou hast quarreled with a man for coughing in the street because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun.”
The two, still talking, came to a standstill, almost immediately below the window, and as they stood, the watchers above perceived that a new figure had entered the square—their cousin Tybalt.
Tybalt was not a favorite with either of the girls. ”

“ At length, finding that they paid no attention to him whatsoever, Romeo drew his own sword and, calling on Benvolio to help him, he attempted to come between the two combatants. But unhappily the rôle of him who makes peace has always lacked the dash and conviction of those who make war; and Romeo now intervened in so clumsy a fashion that he hampered Mercutio, while leaving Tybalt free, with the result that Tybalt contrived to strike his opponent under Romeo's arm. ”

“ The patient must not be moved until the next day.
The girls looked at each other. Was it possible to ask old Capulet to shelter an adherent of the hated Montague? Juliet was of the opinion that it was; Rosaline seemed less convinced.
Doubt was soon put an end to by the entrance of Juliet's nurse—babbling though breathless. The girls had seen nothing of the events in the square since the wounding of Mercutio. The nurse brought them word of a series of tragedies. Romeo, moved by the supposed death of his friend, had drawn his sword and rushed into the fight with an almost maniacal fury. ”

“ He decided to remain at Mantua, where after a few years he married a rich widow some years older than himself, whom he kept in continual subjection to his will by accounts of the passion of a nobly born young Veronese maiden who had killed herself for love of him. ”

“ They had hurried down to make what arrangements they could for his comfort. The surgeon arrived almost immediately, and after examining the wound announced that it was not fatal—not even serious if the bleeding did not break out again. ”