_Sir C._ Oh, the triumph of honour! Oh, the sincerity of friendship! How my opinions are ratified--how my system is proved! _Lady E._ Oh, spirits, spirits, forsake me not!--Oh, for a moment's dissimulation! _Sir C._ There are some, now, who would feed moroseness and misanthropy with such events: to me they give delight, as convictions and warnings to mankind. _Lady E._ Of how superior a quality, my good uncle, must be the benevolence you possess! it rises with the progress of mischief; and is gratified (upon principles of general good) by finding confidence abused, and esteem misplaced. Am I not right in attributing your joy at present to that sort of refinement? _Sir C._ Hah! and to what sensations, my good niece, shall be attributed the present state of your spirits? To the disgust you took to Clifford almost at first sight. It will not be with indifference, but pleasure, you will hear of his turning out the veriest rascal, the most complete impostor, the most abandoned--but hold, hold!--I must not wrong him by superlatives--he is matched too. _Lady E._ Really!--I congratulate you upon such a check of charity. _Sir C._ And I wish you joy, my pretty pert one, upon the credit your sex has acquired, in producing this other chef-d'oeuvre--such a composition of the highest vices and the lowest--But your goodnature will, I dare say, easily find palliatives for both parties. _Lady E._ Come, sir; no more of your sarcasms. I can treat wrong actions with levity, and yet consider them with detestation. Prudes and pretenders condemn with austerity. To the collection of suspicions you are master of, let me add one--In a young lady, of the delicacy and age you have described, always suspect the virtue that does not wear a smile. _Sir C._ And the sincerity that wears one awkwardly. _Enter PROMPT, hastily._ _Prompt._ Joy to your honour; I see you have caught her. _Sir C._ Her!--whom? _Prompt._ [_LADY EMILY turning._] I ask your ladyship's pardon--Having only the glimpse of a petticoat, and knowing the object of my chase was in this house, I confess I mistook you. _Sir C._ In this house? _Prompt._ As sure as we are--She came in through the garden, under Mr. Clifford's arm--up the other stairs, I suppose.--If my lady had been hereabouts, she must have seen her. _Lady E._ [_In confusion._] Yes; but, unluckily, I was quite out of the way. _Sir C._ Such audaciousness passes credibility.--Emily, what do you think of him? _Lady E._ That he is a monster.--[_Aside._] How my dilemmas multiply! _Sir C._ What, to my house! to his apartment here! I wonder he did not ask for protection in yours.--What should you have said? _Lady E._ I don't know; but, had I been so imposed upon as to receive her, I should scorn to betray even the criminal I had engaged to protect. _Sir C._ [_Tries at the Door, and finds it locked._] Emily, my dear, do ring the bell, to know if the housekeeper has a second key to this lock. _Lady E._ What shall I do?