_Reu._ Dan’l Druce, I warn thee---- _Dan._ And I warn thee, Reuben Haines! Quit my roof, and that quickly, if thou settest value on thy blood, for it’s ill trifling wi’ me now! As yet, I’m master here--’twon’t be fur long, but while I am, I’ll be obeyed. Get thee hence--take thy damned face out, I tell ’ee, lest I do that which none can undo. Go! Do thy worst! _Reu._ Brave old man! Thou defiest me to my very face, and I honour thee for it. There is sore tribulation in store for thee, likewise much bitter wailing and anguish without end. Yet thou shrinkest not. It is well done, and damme, I honour thee for it. Brave old man! [_Exit REUBEN._ _Dor._ Father, thou wast wont to tell me thy sorrow--hide not from me the source of this bitter grief. Am I not in all things thy daughter, and who should comfort thee if I may not? _Dan._ My child, I’ve naught to hide from thee now. The reed on which I leant is broken--and---- (_Knock. DAN’L starts in terror._) Who’s there? _Geof._ (_without_). Master Druce! _Dor._ It is Geoffrey. _Dan._ He had best not see thee. Get thee hence, I’ll open to him. _Dor._ Father, deal gently with him for the love I bear him. [_Exit DOROTHY. DAN’L opens the door._ _Enter GEOFFREY._ _Geof._ Master Dan’l, I’m going to sea. I have written to refuse the post that Sir Jasper would have given me, and I am going to-night. I come to pray your pardon for the sorrow I have brought upon your home. Give me that before I go. _Dan._ Ay, I pardon thee, my lad. Thou didst not know. Heaven prosper thee. Is that all? _Geof._ I have something to ask about--about Mistress Dorothy. _Dan._ Too late! She is not mine to give. Her father--he’s coming fur to take her from me. Oh, Geoffrey, he’s comin’ to take her from me, and I’m waiting here for the blow to fall! I’m waiting here for my death! _Geof._ I did not come to seek her love--I know that that has gone from me for ever. Master Dan’l, she heard me deny her, and she believes that I spake in earnest. I’m going from her now--for ever; there’s no chance that she’ll ever see me again. I think I should go with a lighter heart if I knew that when I’m gone and there’s many a mile of stormy water betwixt us, some one would tell her that I’m not so bad and cruel and heartless as she thinks me--if some one would tell her that it was for _her_ sake that I denied her--for her sake and for thine. I think I could go with a lighter heart if I knew she would be sure to think rightly of me in the end. That’s all I’ve got to say. _Dan._ My lad, I’ve dealt hardly with thee, but I was sorely put about and not rightly master o’ myself. If it lay wi’ me, I’d give my girl to thee wi’ a light heart; but, my poor lad, it doan’t lay wi’ me now. He’s coming fur to take her from me! (_Knock._) At last! at last! Sir Jasper is here. Get thee within there. (_Pointing to inner room._) I have business wi’ this man.