[_They retreat_--HENRY _advances._ _Henry._ Hold! as a friend, one word! [_They exeunt, he follows them, and returns._ Again they have escaped me--"_The infant died with its mother_"--This agony of doubt is insupportable. _Enter_ EVERGREEN. _Everg._ Henry, well met. _Henry._ Have you seen strangers? _Everg._ No! _Henry._ Two but now have left this place--They spoke of a lost child--My busy fancy led me to think I was the object of their search--I pressed forward, but they avoided me. _Everg._ No, no; it could not be you; for no one on earth knows but myself, and---- _Henry._ Who? Sir Philip Blandford? _Everg._ I am sworn, you know, my dear boy; I am solemnly sworn to silence. _Henry._ True, my good old friend; and if the knowledge of who I am can only be obtained at the price of thy perjury, let me for ever remain ignorant--let the corroding thought still haunt my pillow, cross me at every turn, and render me insensible to the blessings of health and liberty--yet, in vain do I suppress the thought--who am I? why thus abandoned? perhaps the despised offspring of guilt--Ah! is it so? [_Seizing him violently._ _Everg._ Henry, do I deserve this? _Henry._ Pardon me, good old man! I'll act more reasonably--I'll deem thy silence mercy. _Everg._ That's wisely said. _Henry._ Yet it is hard to think, that the most detested reptile that nature forms, or man pursues, has, when he gains his den, a parent's pitying breast to shelter in; but I---- _Everg._ Come, come, no more of this. _Henry._ Well!----I visited to-day that young man who was so grievously bruised by the breaking of his team. _Everg._ That was kindly done, Henry. _Henry._ I found him suffering under extreme torture, yet a ray of joy shot from his languid eye--for his medicine was administered by a father's hand--it was a mother's precious tear that dropped upon his wound--Oh, how I envied him! _Everg._ Still on the same subject--I tell thee, if thou art not acknowledged by thy race, why, then become the noble founder of a new one.--Come with me to the castle, for the last time. _Henry._ The last time! _Everg._ Aye, boy; for, when Sir Philip arrives, you must avoid him. _Henry._ Not see him! where exists the power that shall prevent me? _Everg._ Henry, if you value your own peace of mind--if you value an old man's comfort, avoid the castle. _Henry._ [_Aside._] I must dissemble with this honest creature--Well, I am content. _Everg._ That's right--that's right,--Henry--Be but thou resigned and virtuous, and He, who clothes the lily of the field, will be a parent to thee. [_Exeunt._ ACT THE SECOND. SCENE I. _A Lodge belonging to the Castle._ _Dame Ashfield discovered making lace._ _Enter_ HANDY, _jun._