_Enter_ MISS HARDCASTLE. HARD. Blessings on my pretty innocence! Drest out as usual, my Kate. Goodness! What a quantity of superfluous silk hast thou got about thee, girl! I could never teach the fools of this age, that the indigent world could be clothed out of the trimmings of the vain. MISS HARD. You know our agreement, sir. You allow me the morning to receive and pay visits, and to dress in my own manner; and in the evening, I put on my housewife's dress to please you. HARD. Well, remember I insist on the terms of our agreement; and, by the by, I believe I shall have occasion to try your obedience this very evening. MISS HARD. I protest, sir, I don't comprehend your meaning. HARD. Then, to be plain with you, Kate, I expect the young gentleman I have chosen to be your husband from town this very day. I have his father's letter, in which he informs me his son is set out, and that he intends to follow himself shortly after. MISS HARD. Indeed! I wish I had known something of this before. Bless me, how shall I behave! It's a thousand to one I shan't like him; our meeting will be so formal, and so like a thing of business, that I shall find no room for friendship or esteem. HARD. Depend upon it, child, I'll never control your choice; but Mr. Marlow, whom I have pitched upon, is the son of my old friend, Sir Charles Marlow, of whom you have heard me talk so often. The young gentleman has been bred a scholar, and is designed for an employment in the service of his country. I am told he's a man of an excellent understanding. MISS HARD. Is he? HARD. Very generous. MISS HARD. I believe I shall like him. HARD. Young and brave. MISS HARD. I'm sure I shall like him. HARD. And very handsome. MISS HARD. My dear papa, say no more (_kissing his hand_), he's mine, I'll have him! [Illustration: MISS HARDCASTLE.—"_I protest, Sir, I do not comprehend your meaning._"—_p._ 326. ] HARD. And to crown all, Kate, he's one of the most bashful and reserved young fellows in all the world. MISS HARD. Eh! you have frozen me to death again. That word _reserved_, has undone all the rest of his accomplishments. A reserved lover, it is said, always makes a suspicious husband. HARD. On the contrary, modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues. It was the very feature in his character that first struck me. MISS HARD. He must have more striking features to catch me, I promise you. However, if he be so young, so handsome, and so everything, as you mention, I believe he'll do still. I think I'll have him. HARD. Ay, Kate, but there is still an obstacle. It's more than an even wager, he may not have _you_. MISS HARD. My dear papa, why will you mortify one so!—Well, if he refuses, instead of breaking my heart at his indifference, I'll only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer.