Page:The Clandestine Marriage (1766).djvu/93

Rh can neither eat nor drink, nor take your natural reſt—compoſe yourſelf, child; for if we are not as waryſome as they are wicked, we ſhall difgrace ourſelves and the whole fammaly.

Miſs Sterl. We are diſgrac'd already, Madam—Sir John Melvil has forſaken me; my Lord cares for nobody but himſelf; or, if for any body, it is my ſiſter; my father, for the ſake of a better bargain, would marry me to a 'Change-broker; ſo that if you, Madam, don't continue my friend—if you forſake me—if I am to loſe my beſt hopes and conſolation—in your tenderneſs—and affect–ions—I had better—at once—give up the matter—and let my ſiſter enjoy—the fruits of her treachery—trample with ſcorn upon the rights of her elder ſiſter, the will of the beſt of aunts, and the weakneſs of a too intereſted father.

[ſhe pretends to be burſting into tears all this ſpeech.

Mrs. Heidel. Don't Betſey—keep up yonr ſpurrit—I hate whimpering—I am your friend—depend upon me in every partickler—but be compoſed, and tell me what new miſchief you have diſcover'd.

Miſs Sterl. I had no deſire to ſleep, and would not undreſs myſelf, knowing that my Machiavel ſiſter would not reſt till ſhe had broke my heart:—I was ſo uneaſy that I could not ſtay in my room, but when I thought that all the houſe was quiet, I ſent my maid to diſcover what was going forward; ſhe immediately came back and told me that they were in high conſultation; that ſhe had heard only, for it was in the dark, my ſiſter's maid conduct Sir John Melvil to her miſtreſs, and then lock the door.

Mrs. Heidel. And how did you conduct yourſelf in this dalimma?

Miſs Sterl. I return'd with her, and could hear a man's voice, though nothing that they ſaid diſtinctly; and you may depend upon it, that Sir John is now in that room, that they have ſettled the matter, and will