Mrs E. You are so sweet a cherub, I must procure my friends the pleasure of your acquaintance. Ah, there's a dove ! there's a beauty!-Dear, I forgot my knotting, I will be back in a moment. [Exit. Chev. [Not daring to look at JOANNA, calls.] Mrs Enfield-She is gone!-I should have felt boldness, had she been present. Joanna. It is very strange! Chev. What does she say ? Joanna. First one man, and then another ! Chev. [Listening.] Hay-Hem. Joanna. Her friends, too, are all men! Chev. Where the devil now is all my impudence flown? Joanna. But she is so kind, so winning, that I have not the power to deny. Chev. If I could but turn round-one plunge, and it would be over. [Turns by degrees.] Ma-Hea vens! [Stands astonished. Joanna. [Aside.] Mercy! It is he! Chev. [Aside.] The very beauty of the Green Park! Joanna. [Sighs.] I had almost hoped never to have seen him more! Chev. [Aside. This is the luckiest-Lucky! To find her here? Joanna. [Aside.] I have thought of him much too often! Chev. [Aside.] A creature so divine: Looks of such conscious modesty, and in this place? Joanna. Sir Chev. Madam-[Aside.] O that I might but touch her lips! Joanna. Mrs Enfield informs me you are one of her best friends. Chev. Me, madam? Joanna. Yes, sir. Chev. Why that is-[Aside.] No, I'll not deceive her. [Aloud.] I never saw Mrs Enfield before in my life. Joanna. Never Chev. Never. And I don't care if I never see her again. Joanna. Bless me! Chev. Very true, madam.-And I— Chev. Stop, madam.-Pardon my presumption, but I-you-you have so much beauty and modesty -and merit-and-I am such a faultering-bashful booby-that if you leave me I shall run mad! Joanna. Mad, sir! Chev. Upon my soul I shall, madam, I can't help it; I never was so enchanted, enraptured, and ravished in all my life! And I am very sorry to find youJoanna. Sorry to find me? Chev. No, no, no, madam; glad to find you, infi. nitely glad; but not in this house. Joanna. And why, sir? Chev. I was frantic to think I had lost you. Joanna. How so, sir? We are not acquainted. Chev. I am sorry for it, madam!-B-b-but I hope we shall be. I have been a very bedlamite, I could neither eat, drink, nor sleep, I have dreamed of you every night, you have been in my head, in my heart, in my arms— Joanna. Your arms, sir? -am Chev. Oh lord, no, madam, no, no-I-Italking in my sleep now. I mean-- That is-I would not offend you, madam, no, not for ten thousand thrones! Though to find you here is the greatest torment-And if you would but leave this wicked place Joanna. I do not understand you, sir. Chev. Forgive me if I appear intruding; indeed my intention is good; but how long have you been in this house? Joanna. Not four hours. Chev. And how long acquainted with this woman? Joanna. To-day was the first time I ever saw her. Chev. [In Raptures.] She's innocent, she's innocent! Chev. [Looking round.] I must not be seen; but, for Heaven's sake, let me speak to you once more. [Retires into a Closet, from which he occasionally looks. Enter MORDent. Mor. [Surveys JOANNA.] Your humble servant, madam. [Aside.] She is indeed beautiful! Joanna. [Aside.] This is the man of the portrait. Mor. You are acquainted, I believe, with my friend Mr Lennox? Joanna. I, sir? Not to my knowledge. Mor. Did he not converse with you this morning? Joanna. I have conversed with two gentlemen this morning; you are the third. Mor. [Aside.] Lovely creature! Can she too be an instrument of malevolence? [Aloud.] I mean a fair gentleman, about forty, Joanna. Well, sir; what of him? Mor. Did he-not make proposals? Mor. Ay, madam; on the common subject, the promoting of ill? Joanna. You speak riddles. He talked idly, and perhaps was more unprincipled and insulting than I supposed. Mor.[Aside.] By Heavens, she is an innocent! Nay, E her countenance would half persuade me there are beings capable of happiness. Chev. [From the Closet.] Zounds, he looks as if he too would fall in love with her? Mor. Pardon my intrusion, madam, I am a stranger to you, but Joanna. Not entirely. Mor. Not? Joanna. I have been studying you all the morn ing. Mor. Me?-You never saw me before, Mor. When? Where? Joanna. [Pointing to the Picture.] Here in effigy. Chev. What are they about? Mor. My portrait? [Aside.] How dare the old beldam hang it up in her house? Joanna. It speaks volumes: yet not so much as the original. Chev. What does he say? Mor. Indeed! and what does it say, madam? if it speak good, it lies. Joanna. Either it indicates falsely, or you have flattered, promised, deceived, and betrayed. Mor. [Aside.] Astonishing!-Who? Joanna. More poor girls than one! Mor. [Aside.] Her eyes penetrate to the heart![Aloud.] You judge and speak freely, madam. I applaud your sincerity. Joanna. What should I fear? Beside, you have not the features of revenge. Mor. [Aside.] Her understanding and discernment surpass her beauty. Chev. Will they never have done? Joanna. This eye! How often must it have assumed the same deceiving form and meaning, to have impressed these deep lines of artful seduction! How frequently must health, wealth, and principle, have been sacrificed to gratify dishonest passions! Mor. [Aside.] Amazing, so young too! Joanna. You are an unhappy man ; for you have not the apathy of folly; you have a sense, a feeling, of what you have done. Mor. I have never had faith in sorcery! Is it your profession? Joanna. I have no profession. I am nobody: the child of nobody: a branch lopped off, and cast away, that might have grown, but that could find no root. Misfortune and an active spirit, struggling to shake off oppression, have quickened me a little. Other than this, I am but a simple girl: and my whole heart is to note what I see, and to speak what I think. Mor. Whoever you are, come but with me, and, while I have a morsel, a home, or a heart, you shall share them. Chev. [Runs forward.] Damme if she shall! -! Chev. She shall have my morsel, my home, and my heart! Mor. You in this house, sir? Chev. Nay, sir, you in this house, sir? Madam, put no faith in him. You are very right; he is a seducer! I love you, heart, body, and soul! I'll offer you no wrong. Every proof that the most ardent, purest passion can give, feel, or imagine, shall be yours! Joanna. This house! this house! What is it you mean, gentlemen? Is there contamination in this house? Chev. Vile! detestable! a place of intrigue! Exit, precipitately. Mor. [Prevents CHEVERIL from passing] How came I, sir, to find you here? Chev. Zounds, sir, how came I to find you here? |