_Ch._ Yes, I think so too, if I can only repress my tendency to think of that tall girl I met in Scotland! Cheviot, my boy, you must make an effort; you are going to be married, and the tall girl is nothing to you! _Enter PARKER._ _Par._ Please, sir, here’s a gentleman to see you. _Ch._ Oh, my solicitor, no doubt. Show him up. _Par._ And please, some persons have called to see you about an advertisement. _Ch._ Oh, Symperson’s servants. To be sure. Show up the gentleman, and tell the others to wait. [_Exit PARKER._ _Enter BELVAWNEY. He looks very miserable._ _Ch._ Belvawney! This is unexpected. (_Much confused._) _Bel._ Yes, Cheviot. At last we meet. Don’t, oh don’t, frown upon a heartbroken wretch. _Ch._ Belvawney, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I will not disguise from you that, not having seen you for three months, I was in hopes that I had got rid of you for ever. _Bel._ Oh, Cheviot, don’t say that, I am so unhappy. And you have it in your power to make me comfortable. Do this, and I will bless you with my latest breath! _Ch._ It is a tempting offer; I am not proof against it. We all have our price, and that is mine. Proceed. _Bel._ Miss Treherne--Belinda--whom I love so dearly, won’t have anything to say to me. _Ch._ It does her credit. She’s a very superior girl. _Bel._ It’s all through you, Cheviot. She declares that the mutual declaration you made to protect her from McGillicuddy amounts to a Scotch marriage. _Ch._ What!!! _Bel._ She declares she is your wife. She professes to love me as fondly as ever; but a stern sense of duty to you forbids her to hold any communication with me. _Ch._ Oh, but this is absurd, you know! _Bel._ Of course it is; but what’s to be done? You left with Symperson immediately after making the declaration. As soon as she found you were gone she implored me to tell her your name and address. Of course I refused, and she quitted me, telling me that she would devote her life to finding you out. _Ch._ But this is simple madness. I can’t have it! This day, too, of all others! If she’d claimed me last week, or even yesterday, I wouldn’t have minded, for she’s a devilish fine woman; but if she were to turn up now--! (_Aloud._) Belvawney, my dear friend, tell me what to do--I’ll do anything. _Bel._ It seems that there’s some doubt whether this cottage, which is just on the border, is in England or Scotland. If it is in England, she has no case; if it is in Scotland, I’m afraid she has. I’ve written to the owner of the property to ascertain, and if, in the mean time, she claims you, you must absolutely decline to recognize this marriage for a moment. _Ch._ Not for one moment! _Bel._ It was a mere artifice to enable her to escape from McGillicuddy. _Ch._ Nothing more! _Bel._ It’s monstrous--perfectly monstrous--that that should constitute a marriage. It’s disgraceful--it’s abominable. Damme, Cheviot, it’s immoral.