"'Swounds, Hal, it did turn to me," Falstaff says, "as if it would devour me as well. But I stood firm! For," he says, pressing a hand to his heart, "as a virtuous man, I knew the Lord would not desert me, and strike me down if the devil did not recognize it too, for it cowered, I tell you, it cowered. 'Avaunt,' says I, 'and back unto the pit with thee!' Oh, it did not like that, I tell you. It came at me then, but it could not touch me -- such things can never touch a man of piety!" He gives Hal's armor a look down his nose. "And I should say to you, Hal, look to your soul, Hal, afore it is too late. But I stray from my tale."