_Stu._ Rather let him fly. His evidence may crush his master. _Bev._ Why, ay; this looks like management. _Bates._ He found you quarrelling with Lewson in the street last night. [_To Beverley._ _Mrs. Bev._ No; I am sure he did not. _Jar._ Or if I did-- _Mrs. Bev._ 'Tis false, old man--They had no quarrel; there was no cause for quarrel. _Bev._ Let him proceed, I say--O! I am sick! sick! Reach me a chair. [_He sits down._ _Mrs. Bev._ You droop, and tremble, love--Your eyes are fixt too--Yet You are innocent. If Lewson's dead, You killed him not. SCENE X. _Enter DAWSON._ _Stu._ Who sent for Dawson? _Bates._ 'Twas I. We have a witness too, you little think of. Without there! _Stu._ What witness? _Bates._ A right one. Look at him. SCENE XI. _Re-enter CHARLOTTE, with LEWSON._ _Stu._ Lewson! O--villains! villains! [_To Bates and Dawson._ _Mrs. Bev._ Risen from the dead! Why, this is unexpected happiness! _Char._ Or is't his ghost? (_To Stukely_) That sight would please you, Sir. _Jar._ What riddle's this? _Bev._ Be quick and tell it--My minutes are but few. _Mrs. Bev._ Alas! why so? You shall live long and happily. _Lew._ While shame and punishment shall rack that viper. (_Pointing to Stukely_) The tale is short. I was too busy in his secrets, and therefore doomed to die. Bates, to prevent the murder, undertook it. I kept aloof to give it credit-- _Char._ And gave Me pangs unutterable. _Lew._ I felt them all, and would have told you; but vengeance wanted ripening. The villain's scheme was but half executed. The arrest by Dawson followed the supposed murder: and now, depending on his once wicked associates, he comes to fix the guilt on Beverley. _Mrs. Bev._ O! execrable wretch! _Bates._ Dawson and I are witnesses of this. _Lew._ And of a thousand frauds. His friend undone by sharpers and false dice; and Stukely sole contriver, and possessor of all. _Daw._ Had he but stopt on this side murder, we had been villains still. _Mrs. Bev._ Thus heaven turns evil into good; and by permitting sin, warns men to virtue. _Lew._ Yet punishes the instrument. So shall our laws; though not with death. But death were mercy. Shame, beggary, and imprisonment, unpitied misery, the stings of conscience, and the curses of mankind shall make life hateful to him--till at last, his own hand end him. How does my friend? [_To Beverley_. _Bev._ Why, well. Who's he that asks me? _Mrs. Bev._ Tis Lewson, love. Why do you look so at him? _Bev._ They told me he was murdered. [_Wildly._ _Mrs. Bev._ Ay; but he lives to save us. _Bev._ Lend me your hand--The room turns round. _Mrs. Bev._ O heaven! _Lew._ This villain here, disturbs him. Remove him from his sight: and for your lives, see that you guard him. (_Stukely is taken off by Dawson and Bates_) How is it, Sir? _Bev._ 'Tis here--and here--(_Pointing to his head and heart._) And now it tears me! _Mrs. Bev._ You feel convulsed too--What is't disturbs you?