MISS HARD. Yes, sir, that very identical tall, squinting lady you were pleased to take me for. (_Curtseying._) She that you addressed as the mild, modest, sentimental man of gravity, and the bold, forward, agreeable rattle of the ladies' club; ha, ha, ha! MARL. Zounds, there's no bearing this; it's worse than death. MISS HARD. In which of your characters, sir, will you give us leave to address you? As the faltering gentleman, with looks on the ground, that speaks just to be heard, and hates hypocrisy; or the loud confident creature, that keeps it up with Mrs. Mantrap, and old Miss Biddy Buckskin, till three in the morning? ha, ha, ha! MARL. O, curse on my noisy head! I never attempted to be impudent yet, that I was not taken down. I must be gone. HARD. By the hand of my body, but you shall not. I see it was all a mistake, and I am rejoiced to find it. You shall not, sir, I tell you. I know she'll forgive you. Won't you forgive him, Kate? We'll all forgive you. Take courage, man. _They retire, she tormenting him to the back scene._ _Enter_ MRS. HARDCASTLE. TONY. MRS. HARD. So, so, they're gone off. Let them go, I care not. HARD. Who gone? MRS. HARD. My dutiful niece and her gentleman, Mr. Hastings, from town. He who came down with our modest visitor here. SIR CHARLES. Who, my honest George Hastings? As worthy a fellow as lives; and the girl could not have made a more prudent choice. HARD. Then, by the hand of my body, I'm proud of the connexion. MRS. HARD. Well, if he has taken away the lady, he has not taken her fortune; that remains in this family to console us for her loss. HARD. Sure, Dorothy, you would not be so mercenary. MRS. HARD. Ay, that's my affair, not yours. But you know, if your son, when of age, refuses to marry his cousin, her whole fortune is then at her own disposal. HARD. Ay, but he's not of age, and she has not thought proper to wait for his refusal. _Enter_ HASTINGS _and_ MISS NEVILLE. MRS. HARD. (_Aside._) What, returned so soon? I begin not to like it. HAST. (_To_ HARDCASTLE.) For my late attempt to fly off with your niece, let my present confusion be my punishment. We are now come back, to appeal from your justice to your humanity. By her father's consent, I first paid her my addresses, and our passions were first founded on duty. MISS NEV. Since his death, I have been obliged to stoop to dissimulation to avoid oppression. In an hour of levity, I was ready even to give up my fortune to secure my choice. But I am now recovered from the delusion, and hope, from your tenderness, what is denied me from a nearer connexion. MRS. HARD. Pshaw, pshaw! this is all but the whining end of a modern novel. HARD. Be it what it will, I'm glad they are come back to reclaim their due. Come hither, Tony, boy. Do you refuse this lady's hand whom I now offer you? TONY. What signifies my refusing? You know I can't refuse her till I'm of age, father.