vate drawer; and that it is now a full month since a gentleman of Montpellier, coming to England, was entrusted with it. But no such gentleman has yet appeared. Mil. If it should have got into the hands of the Widow Sulky. Which I suspect it has ! You are a couple of pretty gentlemen! But beware! Misfortune is at your heels! Mr. Dornton vows vengeance on you both, and justly. He is not gone to bed; and, if you have confidence enough to look him in the face, I would have you stay where you are. Mil. I neither wish to insult, nor be insulted. [Exit, R. Sulky. [Retiring up the stage to the table.] Do you know, sir, your father turned the poor fellow into the street, who compassionately opened the door for you? Harry. Yes; and my father knows I as compassionately opened the door for the poor fellow in return. Sulky. Very well, sir! Your fame is increasing daily. Harry. [Rising.] I am glad to hear it. Sulky. Humph! Then perhaps you have paragraphed yourself? Harry. [Comes forward with him.] Paragraphed? What? Where? Sulky. (R. C.) In the St. James's Evening. Harry. (c.) Me? Sulky. Stating the exact amount. Harry. Of my loss? Sulky. Yours.-You march through every avenue to fame, dirty or clean. Harry. Well said! Be witty when you can; sarcastic you must be, in spite of your teeth. But I like you the better. You are honest. You are my cruet of Cayenne, and a sprinkling of you is excellent. Sulky. Well, sir, when you know the state of your own affairs, and to what you have reduced the house, you will perhaps be less ready to grin. Harry. Reduced the house! Ha, ha, ha! [DORNTON appears L. Enter MR. DORNTON, with Newspaper in his hand, L. Dorn. (L.) So, sir! Harry. [Bowing, L. c.] I am happy to see you, sir. Dorn. You are there, after having broken into my house at midnight!-And you are here [Holding up the Paper] after having ruined me and my house by your unprincipled prodigality! Are you not a scoundrel? Harry. No, sir; I am only a fool. Sulky. (R.) Good night to you, gentlemen. [Going, R. Dorn. Stay where you are, Mr. Sulky. I beg you [Crosses R. to SULKY] to stay where you are, and be a witness to my solemn renunciation of him and his vices! Sulky. (R.) I have witnessed it a thousand times. Dorn. But this is the last. Are you not a scoundrel, [To HARRY. I say? Harry. (c.) I am your son. Dorn. [Calling L.] Mr. Smith! Bring in those deeds. Enter MR. SMITH, with papers, L. You will not deny you are an incorrigible squanderer? Harry. (L. c.) I will deny nothing. Dorn. (c.) A nuisance, a wart, a blot, a stain upon the face of nature! Harry. A stain that will wash out, sir. Dorn. A redundancy, a negation; a besotted sophisticated incumbrance; a jumble of fatuity; your head, your heart, your words, your actions, all a jargon; incoherent and unintelligible to yourself, absurd and offensive to others! [SMITH retires, L. Harry. I am whatever you please, sir. Dorn. Bills never examined, every thing bought on credit, the price of nothing asked! Conscious you were weak enough to wish for baubles you did not want, and pant for pleasures you could not enjoy, you had not the effrontery to assume the circumspect caution of common sense! And, to your other destructive follies, you must add the detestable vice of gaming! Harry. These things, sir, are much easier done than defended. Dorn. But here-[To SMITH, who advances L.]Give me that parchment! The partners have all been summoned! Look, sir! your name has been formally erased! Harry. The partners are very kind. Dorn. The suspicions already incurred by the known profligacy of a principal in the firm, the immense suns you have drawn, this paragraph, the run on the house Dorn. I taught you! What, scoundrel? What? Dorn. Loving me! Harry. Most sincerely! Dorn. [Forgetting his passion.] Why, can you say, Harry-Rascal! I mean-that you love me? Harry. I should be a rascal indeed if I did not, sir. Dorn. Harry! Harry! [Greatly agitated.] No; confound me if I do! Sir, you are a vile Harry. I know I am. Dorn. And I'll never speak to you more. [Going, L. Harry. Bid me good night, sir. Mr. Sulky here will bid me good night, and you are my father! Good night, Mr. Sulky. Sulky. (R.) Good night. [Exit, R. Dorn. Good. [Struggling with passion.] I won't! If I do Harry. Reproach me with my follies, strike out my name, disinherit me, I deserve it all, and more. But say, "Good night, Harry!" Dorn. I won't!-I won't!-I won't! Harry. (L. c.) Poverty is a trifle; we can whistle it off; but enmity. Dorn. I will not! Harry. Sleep in enmity! And who can say how soundly? (L.) Come! good night. Dorn. I won't! I won't! [Runs off, L. Harry. Say you so? [Goes back to the table.] Why then, my noble-hearted dad, [Returning] I am indeed a scoundrel! SCENE I.-The House of the Widow Warren. Jenny. (L.) I tell you, good woman, I can do nothing for you. Mrs. L. (L.) Only let me see Mrs. Warren. Jenny. And get myself snubbed. Not I, indeed. Enter SOPHIA, R. Sophia. (R.) La, Jenny! Yonder's my mamma, with a whole congregation of milliners, mantua-makers, mercers, haberdashers, lace-men, feather-men, and-and all the world, consulting about second mourning! Jenny. (L. c.) I know it. Sophia. (c.) It will be six months to-morrow, since the death of my father-in-law; and she has been busy giving orders for this fortnight, that every thing might be brought home and tried on to-day. I do believe she'll sleep in her new clothes! Jenny. How you run on, miss! Sophia. What would my dear grandma' say, if she saw her? Why she is even fonder of finery than I am! Jenny. Sure, miss, you are not fond of finery? Sophia. [Skipping about.] Oh, but I am. I wonder why she won't let me wear high-heeled shoes! I am sure I am old enough; I shall be eighteen next Christ mas day, at midnight: which is only nine months and two days! And since she likes to wear slips, and sashes, and ringlets, and-nonsense, like a girl, why should not I have high heels and gowns, and satins, and trains, and sweeps, [Mimicking] and—like a woman? Jenny. It's very true what your mamma tells you, miss; you have been spoiled by your old fond grandmother, in Gloucestershire. Sophia. Nay, Jenny, I won't hear you call my dear grandma' names! Though every body told the loving old soul she would spoil me. Jenny. And now your mamma has sent for you up to town, to finish your heddecation. Sophia. Yes, she began on the very first day. There was the stay-maker sent for to screw up my shape; the shoe-maker to cripple my feet; the hair-dresser, to burn my hair; the jeweller, to bore my ears; and the dentist, to file my teeth. Jenny. Ah! You came here such a hoyden! [To MRS. LEDGER.] What, an't you gone yet, mistress? Sophia. La, Jenny, how can you be so cross to people? What is the matter with this good woman? Jenny. Oh! nothing but poverty. Sophia. Is that all? Here, [Rummaging her pockets] give her this half crown, and make her rich. Jenny. Rich indeed! Sophia. What, is not it enough? La, I am sorry I spent all my money yesterday! I laid it out in sweetmeats, cakes, a canary bird, and a poll parrot. But I hope you are not very, very poor? [Crosses to L. Mrs. L. (L.) My husband served the late alderman five-and-twenty years. His master promised to provide for him; but his pitiless widow can see him thrown with a broken heart upon the parish. Sophia. Oh dear!-Stop!-Stop a bit! [Cuperng off L.] Be sure you don't go ! Enter MR. SULKY, R. Sulky. (R.) Where's your mistress, girl? Jenny. Busy, sir. Sulky. Tell her to come down.-Don't stare, girl, but go and tell your mistress I want her. |