_Mary._ I will, sir; but---- [_Looking round._ _Pereg._ Leave us a little, honest friends. _Dennis._ A hem!--Come, Mrs. Brulgruddery! let you and I pair off, my lambkin! _Mrs. Brul._ [_Going._] Ah! she's no better than she should be, I'll warrant her. _Dennis._ By the powers, she's well enough though, for all that. [_Exeunt DENNIS and MRS. BRUL. into the House._ _Pereg._ Now, sweet one, your name? _Mary._ Mary, sir. _Pereg._ What else? _Mary._ Don't ask me that, sir: my poor father might be sorry it was mentioned, now. _Pereg._ Have you quitted your father, then? _Mary._ I left his house at day-break, this morning, sir. _Pereg._ What is he? _Mary._ A tradesman in the neighbouring town, sir. _Pereg._ Is he aware of your departure? _Mary._ No, sir, _Pereg._ And your mother--? _Mary._ I was very little, when she died, sir. _Pereg._ Has your father, since her death, treated you with cruelty? _Mary._ He? Oh, bless him! no! he is the kindest father that ever breathed, sir. _Pereg._ How must such a father be agonized by the loss of his child! _Mary._ Pray, sir, don't talk of that! _Pereg._ Why did you fly from him? _Mary._ Sir, I----I----but that's my story, sir. _Pereg._ Relate it, then. _Mary._ Yes, sir.--You must know, then, sir, that--there was a young gentleman in this neighbourhood, that--O dear, sir, I'm quite ashamed! _Pereg._ Come, child, I will relieve you from the embarrassment of narration, and sum up your history in one word;--love. _Mary._ That's the beginning of it, sir; but a great deal happen'd afterwards. _Pereg._ And who is the hero of your story, my poor girl? _Mary._ The hero of----? O, I understand--he is much above me in fortune, sir. To be sure, I should have thought of that, before he got such power over my heart, to make me so wretched, now he has deserted me. _Pereg._ He would have thought of that, had his own heart been generous. _Mary._ He is reckon'd very generous, sir; he can afford to be so. When the old gentleman dies, he will have all the great family estate. I am going to the house, now, sir. _Pereg._ For what purpose? _Mary._ To try if I can see him for the last time, sir: to tell him I shall always pray for his happiness, when I am far away from a place which he has made it misery for me to abide in;--and to beg him to give me a little supply of money, now I am pennyless, and from home, to help me to London; where I may get into service, and nobody will know me. _Pereg._ And what are his reasons, child, for thus deserting you?