CLEVELAND. I'll be sworn her heart is as true as her wit. She is-- ROSE. Rebel, sir, from top to toe! [_Enter_ ARBALD, MARVIN, _and_ HARRY.] Ah, gentlemen, my best welcome. My father will be proud to greet you-- ELSWORTH. And most happy to know you, gentlemen. [_Enter_ SERVANT, _with wine_.] Major Cleveland, will you do me the honour-- CLEVELAND. Sir, I esteem it an honour. Gentlemen, I hope you will all fill in honour of our host. [_They gather around, fill, and drink to_ MR. ELSWORTH.] Fill again, gentlemen, and honour the toast I am going to propose. The ladies! speedy priests and rings. ROSE. A doubtful compliment, Major Cleveland. CLEVELAND. Can you think so? ROSE. Ay, sir; for marriages, though called matches, are mostly sad patch-work. CLEVELAND. And the unmarried-- ROSE. Oh, they are even worse. Old maids and old bachelors are the tossed about odds and ends of humanity. CLEVELAND. [_Going over to her_.] The happiest wit, madam, I ever heard. ROSE. Captain Arbald, will you grant me your arm? I'm sure you would like a turn in the garden. I shouldn't wonder if my sister were upon the grounds. Lieutenant Marvin, will you go with us? Kate is dying for the sight of a red-coat. [_Exit_. CLEVELAND. A merry-hearted woman, Mr. Elsworth. There is a touch of sly deviltry in her composition. ELSWORTH. I fear lest her indiscreet tongue-- CLEVELAND. Not at all, my dear friend! Lieutenant, I have been informed within an hour, that one Captain Armstrong has been seen this day within five miles of this place. On account of his connection with a certain affair, I wouldn't let him escape me at any sacrifice. I have already dispatched dragoons in his pursuit. At earliest dawn I shall expect you to head a detachment in his search. Meanwhile, sir, I should be grateful for an opportunity to repair my toilet. HARRY. This way, sir; I myself will conduct you to a chamber. [_Exeunt_ CLEVELAND _and_ HARRY. ELSWORTH. This is a situation, indeed, for a royalist gentleman! My house filled with the King's officers, and a proscribed rebel concealed above. If discovered, I tremble to think of the consequences. [_Exit_. _Enter_ ROSE. ROSE. Thank heaven; I am rid of them. Now to Walter, and learn his full danger. [_Enter_ ARMSTRONG.] Are you mad? What are you here for? Back to your hiding place at once. WALTER. No, Rose; I shall not go. ROSE. Why--what-- WALTER. Hear me, Rose. Ask yourself if it is an honourable course for me, a proscribed and hunted rebel, to suffer myself to be concealed in your father's house when my discovery would involve him in terrible consequences. I cannot consent to expose him to those consequences. I would rather openly deliver myself into the hands of Major Cleveland. ROSE. Foolish man! You are ruining all. Walter, for my sake go back again. This is a ridiculous and false sense of honour. WALTER. No, Rose, I am resolved-- ROSE. Walter, I implore you-- [_Enter_ MAJOR CLEVELAND.]