Enter Robin and Adam melodramatically. They are greatly altered in appearance, Robin wearing the haggard aspect of a guilty roue; Adam, that of the wicked steward to such a man. DUET—ROBIN and ADAM. ROB. I once was as meek as a new-born lamb, I'm now Sir Murgatroyd—ha! ha! With greater precision (Without the elision), Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd—ha! ha! ADAM. And I, who was once his valley-de-sham, As steward I'm now employed—ha! ha! The dickens may take him— I'll never forsake him! As steward I'm now employed—ha! ha! ADDITIONAL SONG (Omitted after opening night.) ROB. My face is the index to my mind, All venom and spleen and gall—ha! ha! Or, properly speaking, It soon will be reeking, With venom and spleen and gall—ha! ha! ADAM. My name from Adam Goodheart you'll find I've changed to Gideon Crawle—ha! ha! For bad Bart's steward Whose heart is much too hard Is always Gideon Crawle—ha! ha! BOTH. How dreadful when an innocent heart Becomes, perforce, a bad young Bart., And still more hard on old Adam, His former faithful valley-de-sham! ROB. This is a painful state of things, old Adam! ADAM. Painful, indeed! Ah, my poor master, when I swore that, come what would, I would serve you in all things for ever, I little thought to what a pass it would bring me! The confidential adviser to the greatest villain unhung! Now, sir, to business. What crime do you propose to commit to-day? ROB. How should I know? As my confidential adviser, it's your duty to suggest something. ADAM. Sir, I loathe the life you are leading, but a good old man's oath is paramount, and I obey. Richard Dauntless is here with pretty Rose Maybud, to ask your consent to their marriage. Poison their beer. ROB. No—not that—I know I'm a bad Bart., but I'm not as bad a Bart. as all that. ADAM. Well, there you are, you see! It's no use my making suggestions if you don't adopt them. ROB. (melodramatically). How would it be, do you think, were I to lure him here with cunning wile—bind him with good stout rope to yonder post—and then, by making hideous faces at him, curdle the heart-blood in his arteries, and freeze the very marrow in his bones? How say you, Adam, is not the scheme well planned? ADAM. It would be simply rude—nothing more. But soft—they come! (Adam and Robin retire up as Richard and Rose enter, preceded by Chorus of Bridesmaids.) DUET—RICHARD and ROSE.