Next Door Neighbours - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
[_He is going to seize her--she takes up the pistol and presents it._
ELEANOR.
No, it's not _myself_ I'll kill--'Tis you.
SIR GEORGE. [_Starting._ Nay, nay, nay, lay it down.--Lay that foolish thing down; I beg you will. (_Trembling._) It is charged--it may go off.
ELEANOR.
I mean it to go off.
SIR GEORGE.
But no jesting--I never liked jesting in my life.
ELEANOR.
Nor I--but am always serious.--Dare not, therefore, insult me again, but let me go to my wretched apartments.
[_Pa.s.ses by him, presenting the pistol._
SIR GEORGE.
Go to the----
[_She turns short at the door, and presents it again._
SIR GEORGE.
What would you do?--Here Bluntly! Bluntly! [_Exit_ ELEANOR.
_Enter_ BLUNTLY.
BLUNTLY.
Did you call or no, sir?
SIR GEORGE.
Yes, sir, I did call now. (_In a threatening accent._) Don't you think you have behaved very well this morning?
BLUNTLY.
Yes, sir, I think I have.
SIR GEORGE.
I am not joking.
BLUNTLY.
Nor am I, sir.
SIR GEORGE.
And do not you think I should behave very well, if I was to discharge you my service?
BLUNTLY.
As well as can be expected, sir.
SIR GEORGE.
Why did you break in upon me just now? Did you think I was going to murder the girl?
BLUNTLY.
No, sir, I suspected neither love nor murder.
SIR GEORGE.
What then did you suspect?
BLUNTLY.
Why, sir, if I may make bold to speak--I was afraid the poor girl might be robbed: and of all she is worth in the world.
SIR GEORGE.
Blockhead! I suppose you mean her virtue? [_Smiling with contempt._
BLUNTLY.
Why, to say the truth, sir, virtue is a currency that grows scarce in the world now-a-days--and some men are so much in need of it, that they think nothing of stopping a harmless female pa.s.senger in her road through life, and plundering her of it without remorse, though its loss, embitters every hour she must afterwards pa.s.s in her journey.
_Enter_ HENRY.
HENRY.
Sir George, my father, liberated from prison by your bounty, is come gratefully to offer----
_Enter_ WILLFORD _and_ ELEANOR.
ELEANOR.
[_Holding her father by the hand, to prevent his going forward._ Oh, my father! whither are you going? Turn back--turn back.
HENRY. [_To his father._ This is your benefactor--the man whose benevolence has put an end to your sufferings.
[ELEANOR _bursts into tears and retires up the stage_.
WILLFORD.
How, sir, can I ever repay what I owe to you?--or how describe those emotions, which your goodness at this moment makes me feel?
SIR GEORGE. [_In confusion._ Very well--very well--'tis all very well. (_Aside_) I wish it was.--(_To him_) I am glad I have been of service to you.
WILLFORD.
You have been like mercy to us all. My daughter's grat.i.tude overflows in tears.--But why, my child, do you keep apart from us? Can you be too timid to confess your obligation?
SIR GEORGE.
Let her alone--let her indulge her humour.
WILLFORD.
Speak, Eleanor.
SIR GEORGE.
No, I had rather she would be silent.
WILLFORD.
You offend me by this obstinacy.
