_Miss Als._ Yes, but when you take this tone in public, laugh a little louder. _Mrs. Blandish._ Rival Miss Alscrip, ha! ha! ha! _Both._ Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! _Mrs. Blandish._ [_Wiping her Eyes, as not quite recovered from her Laugh._] For mirth's sake, what is become of the rival?--Whom will you chuse she shall have run away with? _Miss Als._ Leave it in doubt as it is; fixing circumstances confines the curiosity to one story which may be disproved; uncertainty leaves it open to a hundred, and makes them all probable. But I hear some of the company upon the stairs: Now, Blandish--You shall be witness to the temper and dignity, with which a woman of my consequence can discard a quality courtship that offends her-- _Mrs. Blandish._ Sweet tempered soul! _Enter SIR CLEMENT FLINT._ _Sir C._ Miss Alscrip, your-- [_As he is beginning to say your humble Servant,_ _Enter BLANDISH out of Breath._ _Blandish._ The duel's over. _Sir C._ And the parties unhurt--You are too late in your intelligence by some minutes. But I know you must rejoice [_Ironically._] from your attachment to all parties.--Miss Alscrip, your very-- _Miss Als._ Duel!--Pray let us hear the particulars--As there is no mischief, I shall not faint. [_Ironically._ _Sir C._ I guess it has been of the common-place kind.--Hats over the brows--glum silence--thrust--parry--and riposte----Explain and shake hands: Your man of honour never sets his friend right, till he has exchanged a shot--or a thrust: Oh, a little steel recipe is a morning whet to the temper: It carries off all qualms, and leaves the digestion free for any thing that is presented to it. _Miss Als._ Dear, how fortunate! Considering the pills some folks have to swallow. _Sir C._ Blandish, see if the door of Clifford's room is yet unlocked, there is a person within you little expect to find, and whom it may be proper for this lady and me to interrogate together. [_The Door opens, and_ _Enter LADY EMILY._ _Blandish._ Lady Emily! _Sir C._ Inexplicable, with a vengeance. _Miss Als._ [_Aside._] Lady Emily, shut up in Clifford's apartment! Beyond my expectation, indeed. [_With a malicious Air._ [_LADY EMILY seems pleased._ _Sir C._ [_Dryly._] Lady Emily, I know you were always cautious whom you visited, and never gave a better proof of your discernment. _Lady E._ Never. Oh! my poor dear uncle, you little think what is going to befall you. _Sir C._ Not a disappointment in love, I hope. _Lady E._ No, but in something much nearer your heart--your system is threatened with a blow, that I think, and from my soul I hope, it never will recover: would you guess that the sagacious observations of your whole life are upon the point of being confounded by the production-- _Sir C._ Of what?