_Lucy._ Mr. Stukely, Madam. [_Exit._ _Stu._ Good morning to you, Ladies. Mr. Jarvis, your servant. Where's my friend, madam? [_To Mrs. Beverley._ _Mrs. Bev._ I should have asked that question of You. Have not you seen him to-day? _Stu._ No, madam. _Char._ Nor last night? _Stu._ Last night! Did not he come home then? _Mrs. Bev._ No. Were not you together? _Stu._ At the beginning of the evening; but not since. Where can he have staid? _Char._ You call yourself his friend, Sir; why do you encourage him in this madness of gaming? _Stu._ You have asked me that question before, madam; and I told you my concern was that I could not save him. Mr. Beverley is a man, madam; and if the most friendly entreaties have no effect upon him, I have no other means. My purse has been his, even to the injury of my fortune. If That has been encouragement, I deserve censure; but I meant it to retrieve him. _Mrs. Bev._ I don't doubt it, Sir; and I thank you. But where did you leave him last night? _Stu._ At Wilson's, madam, if I ought to tell; in company I did not like. Possibly he may be there still. Mr. Jarvis knows the house, I believe. _Jar._ Shall I go, madam? _Mrs. Bev._ No; he may take it ill. _Char._ He may go as from himself. _Stu._ And if he pleases, madam, without naming Me. I am faulty myself, and should conceal the errors of a friend. But I can refuse nothing here. [_Bowing to the ladies._ _Jar._ I would fain see him, methinks. _Mrs. Bev._ Do so then. But take care how you upbraid him. I have never upbraided him. _Jar._ Would I could bring him comfort! [_Exit._ _Stu._ Don't be too much alarmed, madam. All men have their errors, and their times of seeing them. Perhaps my friend's time is not come yet. But he has an uncle; and old men don't live for ever. You should look forward, madam: we are taught how to value a second fortune by the loss of a first. [_A knocking at the door._ _Mrs. Bev._ Hark!--No; that knocking was too rude for Mr. Beverley. Pray heaven he be well! _Stu._ Never doubt it, madam. You shall be well too: every thing shall be well. [_Knocking again._ _Mrs. Bev._ The knocking is a little loud though. Who waits there? Will none of you answer?--None of you, did I say? Alas! I thought myself in my own house, surrounded with servants. _Char._ I'll go, sister--But don't be alarmed so. [_Exit._ _Stu._ What extraordinary accident have you to fear, madam? _Mrs. Bev._ I beg your pardon; but 'tis ever thus with me in Mr. Beverley's absence. No one knocks at the door, but I fancy 'tis a messenger of ill news. _Stu._ You are too fearful, madam; 'twas but one night of absence; and if ill thoughts intrude (as love is always doubtful) think of your worth and beauty, and drive them from your breast. _Mrs. Bev._ What thoughts? I have no thoughts that wrong my husband.