_Man._ Hold, Sir!--if you'll give me leave a little--I fancy I shall
prevail upon my Lady to think better on't.
Sir _Fran._ Ah? cousin, you are a friend indeed!
_Man._ [_Apart to my Lady._] Look you, Madam, as to the favour you
design'd me, in sending this spurious letter inclosed to my Lady
_Grace_, all the revenge I have taken, is to have sav'd your son and
daughter from ruin----Now if you will take them fairly and quietly into
the country again, I will save your Ladyship from ruin.
Lady _Wrong._ What do you mean, Sir?
_Man._ Why Sir _Francis_----shall never know what is in this letter;
look upon it. How it came into my hands you shall know at leisure.
Lady _Wrong._ Ha! my _billet-doux_ to the Count! and an appointment in
it! I shall sink with confusion!
_Man._ What shall I say to Sir _Francis_, Madam?
Lady _Wrong._ Dear Sir, I am in such a trembling! preserve my honour
and I am all obedience!
[_Apart to ~Manly~._
_Man._ Sir _Francis_----my Lady is ready to receive your commands for
her journey whenever you please to appoint it.
Sir _Fran._ Ah cousin! I doubt I am obliged to you for it.
_Man._ Come, come, Sir _Francis_! take it as you find it. Obedience in
a wife is a good thing, though it were never so wonderful----And now,
Sir, we have nothing to do but dispose of this gentleman.
Count _Bas._ Mr. _Manly_! Sir, I hope you won't ruin me.
_Man._ Did not you forge this note for five hundred pounds, Sir?
Count _Bas._ Sir----I see you know the world, and therefore I shall
not pretend to prevaricate----But it has hurt nobody yet, Sir! I beg
you will not stigmatize me! since you have spoil'd my fortune in one
family, I hope you won't be so cruel to a young fellow, as to put it
out of my power, Sir, to make it in another, Sir!
_Man._ Look you, Sir, I have not much time to waste with you: but if
you expect mercy yourself, you must show it to one you have been cruel
to.
Count _Bas._ Cruel, Sir!
_Man._ Have not you ruin'd this young woman?
Count _Bas._ I, Sir!
_Man._ I know you have----therefore you can't blame her, if, in the
fact you are charg'd with, she is a principal witness against you.
However, you have one and one only chance to get off with. Marry her
this instant----and you take off her evidence.
Count _Bas._ Dear Sir!
_Man._ No words, Sir; a wife or a _mittimus_.
Count _Bas._ Lord, Sir! this is the most unmerciful mercy!
_Man._ A private penance, or a public one----constable.
Count _Bas._ Hold, Sir, since you are pleas'd to give me my choice; I
will not make so ill a compliment to the Lady, as not to give her the
preference.
_Man._ It must be done this minute, Sir: the chaplain you expected is
still within call.
Count _Bas._ Well, Sir,----since it must be so----come, spouse----I am
not the first of the fraternity that has run his head into one noose,
to keep it out of another.
_Myr._ Come, Sir, don't repine: marriage is, at worst, but playing upon
the square.
Count _Bas._ Ay, but the worst of the match too, is the devil.
_Man._ Well, Sir, to let you see it is not so bad as you think it; as
a reward for her honesty, in detecting your practices, instead of the
forged bill you would have put upon her, there's a real one of five
hundred pounds, to begin a new honey-moon with.
[_Gives it to Myrtilla._