ROB. Despard! And his young wife! This visit is unexpected. MAR. Shall I fly at him? Shall I tear him limb from limb? Shall I rend him asunder? Say but the word and— DES. Basingstoke! MAR. (suddenly demure). Basingstoke it is! DES. (aside). Then make it so. (Aloud.) My brother—I call you brother still, despite your horrible profligacy—we have come to urge you to abandon the evil courses to which you have committed yourself, and at any cost to become a pure and blameless ratepayer. ROB. But I've done no wrong yet. MAR. (wildly). No wrong! He has done no wrong! Did you hear that! DES. Basingstoke! MAR. (recovering herself). Basingstoke it is! DES. My brother—I still call you brother, you observe—you forget that you have been, in the eye of the law, a Bad Baronet of Ruddigore for ten years—and you are therefore responsible—in the eye of the law—for all the misdeeds committed by the unhappy gentleman who occupied your place. ROB. I see! Bless my heart, I never thought of that! Was I very bad? DES. Awful. Wasn't he? (To Margaret). ROB. And I've been going on like this for how long? DES. Ten years! Think of all the atrocities you have committed—by attorney as it were—during that period. Remember how you trifled with this poor child's affections—how you raised her hopes on high (don't cry, my love—Basingstoke, you know), only to trample them in the dust when they were at the very zenith of their fullness. Oh fie, sir, fie—she trusted you! ROB. Did she? What a scoundrel I must have been! There, there—don't cry, my dear (to Margaret, who is sobbing on Robin's breast), it's all right now. Birmingham, you know—Birmingham— MAR. (sobbing). It's Ba—Ba—Basingstoke! ROB. Basingstoke! Of course it is—Basingstoke. MAR. Then make it so! ROB. There, there—it's all right—he's married you now—that is, I've married you (turning to Despard)—I say, which of us has married her? DES. Oh, I've married her. ROB. (aside). Oh, I'm glad of that. (To Margaret.) Yes, he's married you now (passing her over to Despard), and anything more disreputable than my conduct seems to have been I've never even heard of. But my mind is made up—I will defy my ancestors. I will refuse to obey their behests, thus, by courting death, atone in some degree for the infamy of my career! MAR. I knew it—I knew it—God bless you—(Hysterically). DES. Basingstoke! MAR. Basingstoke it is! (Recovers herself.) PATTER-TRIO. ROBIN, DESPARD, and MARGARET.