_Heart._ [_Aside._] Death and Damnation!----Let me read it again. [Reads.] _Tho' I have a particular reason not to let you know who I am till I see you; yet you'll easily believe 'tis a faithful Friend that gives you this Advice. I have lain with ~Belinda (Good!)~--I have a Child by her ~(Better and better!)~ which is now at Nurse; ~(Heaven be prais'd)~ and I think the Foundation laid for another: ~(Ha!--Old Truepenny!)~--No Rack cou'd have tortur'd this Story from me; but Friendship has done it. I heard of your Design to marry her, and cou'd not see you abus'd. Make use of my Advice, but keep my Secret till I ask you for't again. Adieu._ [_Exit Lady ~Fancyfull~._ _Const._ [_To ~Bel~._] Come, Madam, shall we send for the Parson? I doubt here's no Business for the Lawyer: Younger Brothers have nothing to settle but their Hearts, and that I believe my Friend here has already done very faithfully. _Bel._ [_Scornfully._] Are you sure, Sir, there are no old Mortgages upon it? _Heart._ [_Coldly._] If you think there are, Madam, it mayn't be amiss to defer the Marriage till you are sure they are paid off. _Bel._ [_Aside._] How the gall'd Horse kicks! [_To_ Heart.] We'll defer it as long as you please, Sir. _Heart._ The more time we take to consider on't, Madam, the less apt we shall be to commit Oversights; therefore, if you please, we will put it off for just nine Months. _Bel._ Guilty Consciences make Men Cowards; I don't wonder you want time to resolve. _Heart._ And they make Women desperate; I don't wonder you are so quickly determin'd. _Bel._ What does the Fellow mean? _Heart._ What does the Lady mean? _Sir John._ Zoons, what do you both mean? [_~Heart.~ and ~Bel.~ walk chasing about._ _Rasor._ [_Aside._] Here is so much Sport going to be spoil'd, it makes me ready to weep again. A Pox o' this impertinent Lady _Fancyfull_, and her Plots, and her _French-woman_ too; she's a whimsical, ill-natur'd Bitch, and when I have got my Bones broke in her Service, 'tis ten to one but my Recompence is a Clap; I hear them tittering without still. I'cod, I'll e'en go lug them both in by the Ears, and discover the Plot, to secure my Pardon. [_Exit ~Rasor~._ _Const._ Pr'ythee, explain, _Heartfree_. _Heart._ A fair Deliverance; thank my Stars and my Friend. _Bel._ 'Tis well it went no farther; a base Fellow! _Lady Brute._ What can be the meaning of all this? _Bel._ What's his Meaning, I don't know; but mine is, that if I had married him----I had had no Husband. _Heart._ And what's her Meaning I don't know; but mine is, that if I had married her--I had had Wife enough. _Sir John._ Your People of Wit have got such cramp ways of expressing themselves, they seldom comprehend one another. Pox take you both, will you speak that you may be understood!