Oh, good old man, you’re a great example of that old work ethic, where people worked because it was their duty, not just for the money. Your approach isn’t the fashion these days, when no one works hard except for a promotion, and, as soon as they’ve got it, they stop working. But in working for me, old man, you are pruning a rotten tree: despite all your pains and efforts, it won’t yield a single blossom. Come along, though. We’ll go together, and before we’ve spent all the savings of your youth, we’ll find a way to make a living.
70
75
ADAM
Master, go on, and I will follow thee
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.
From seventeen years till now almost fourscore
Here livèd I, but now live here no more.
At seventeen years, many their fortunes seek,
But at fourscore, it is too late a week.
Yet fortune cannot recompense me better
Than to die well, and not my master’s debtor.
ADAM
Go on, master, and I will follow you—with truth and loyalty to my last breath. From the time I was seventeen, over sixty years ago, I have lived in this house, but now I will live here no more. Many men seek their fortune at seventeen; at eighty, it’s a bit late. But fortune could not reward me better than to let me die well, without owing my master anything.