WORM. From the description your excellency gave me of what passed in his house nothing can be easier than to terrify the father with the threat of a criminal process. The person of his favorite, and of the keeper of the seals, is in some degree the representative of the duke himself, and he who offends the former is guilty of treason towards the latter. At any rate I will engage with these pretences to conjure up such a phantom as shall scare the poor devil out of his seven senses. PRESIDENT. But recollect, Worm, the affair must not be carried so far as to become serious. WORM. Nor shall it. It shall be carried no further than is necessary to frighten the family into our toils. The musician, therefore, must be quietly arrested. To make the necessity yet more urgent, we may also take possession of the mother;--and then we begin to talk of criminal process, of the scaffold, and of imprisonment for life, and make the daughter's letter the sole condition of the parent's release. PRESIDENT. Excellent! Excellent! Now I begin to understand you! WORM. Louisa loves her father--I might say even to adoration! The danger which threatens his life, or at least his freedom--the reproaches of her conscience for being the cause of his misfortunes--the impossibility of ever becoming the major's wife--the confusion of her brain, which I take upon myself to produce--all these considerations make our plan certain of success. She must be caught in the snare. PRESIDENT. But my son--will he not instantly get scent of it? Will it not make him yet more desperate? WORM. Leave that to me, your excellency! The old folks shall not be set at liberty till they and their daughter have taken the most solemn oath to keep the whole transaction secret, and never to confess the deception. PRESIDENT. An oath! Ridiculous! What restraint can an oath be? WORM. None upon us, my lord, but the most binding upon people of their stamp. Observe, how dexterously by this measure we shall both reach the goal of our desires. The girl loses at once the affection of her lover, and her good name; the parents will lower their tone, and, thoroughly humbled by misfortune, will esteem it an act of mercy, if, by giving her my hand, I re-establish their daughter's reputation. PRESIDENT (shaking his head and smiling). Artful villain! I confess myself outdone--no devil could spin a finer snare! The scholar excels his master. The next question is, to whom must the letter be addressed-- with whom to accuse her of having an intrigue? WORM. It must necessarily be some one who has all to gain or all to lose by your son's decision in this affair. PRESIDENT (after a moment's reflection). I can think of no one but the marshal. WORM (shrugs his shoulders). The marshal! He would certainly not be my choice were I Louisa Miller.