_LADY PLATO goes up the Stage as if uncertain which way to go, till she hurries off by the R.H. door, followed by BLENHEIM._ MAR. Well, I say nothing, but if aunt really wants to find her husband she's gone quite the wrong way, and I'm to say nothing about it. Well, I'm no tell-tale, but I don't like it. (_goes to the flower-stand, L.H., and trims the flowers_) Lord bless us! what a deal o' trouble people get themselves into when once they begin having secrets from one another. _COUSIN JOE appears at the back._ JOE. This must be the house--I found the gate open, and the Nag's Head told me this was Sir William's, and he's the gentleman that married my cousin, and---- What, Margery! lord bless us! MAR. What, Joe, is it you? how d'ye do, Joe? Well, I am glad to see you! (_shakes hands heartily with JOE_) More old friends meeting, but this is the best of all. Well, and how are you, cousin Joe? JOE. Oh, I'm very well, thank ye! MAR. What's brought you here? come to see me? JOE. Yes. MAR. That's right. JOE. I'm going up to a place in London. You see, mother knows somebody there, and as I didn't care much about farming, and always had a kind o' sort o' notion of being a bit of a gentleman, why, they said I was cut out for sarvice, and the end of it is, I'm going to London to be page to a fine lady. MAR. Lord, Joe! JOE. The very thing for a genteel youth like me, they say. I ain't to wear these clothes then. No, I'm to be all over buttons, and have a hat with gold lace, and my hair is to be curled every morning, and I'm to carry letters in to missus on a silver plate, and walk arter her with the lap-dog in the street, and take care nobody's sarcy to her. MAR. Can't you stop here a day or two before you go to your place? we would have such fun--for though my husband has often said that none of my family must come here, as he wanted me to forget all their ways, yet as you _are_ here, I think I could coax him to let you stop. Sit down, Joe--here's a chair. Well, and so--and how's your mother? JOE. Hearty. MAR. And what's the news?--tell me all you can think of. Has Tom Dixon married Lizzey Turvey yet? JOE. No; they were going to be married only a week ago, and when they got to the church Tom took fright and ran all the way home again, and left Lizzey Turvey crying her eyes out at the porch door. MAR. You don't say so! Well, I always said Tom was a fool. Come close, Joe, don't be shy--and, oh Joe! how comfortable this is, to have somebody to talk to in one's own fashion! I do feel so free and easy again! Well, and tell me, Joe, is Dame Willows living? JOE. No--died six months ago. MAR. Did she leave all her money to her nephew, Jem Porter? JOE. No, bless your life! Oh, there's such work! MAR. Come quite close--quite close, and tell me.