McNaughten Just Heaven--the brute! How am I to get out of this, without being maimed or killed? How much do you insist I owe you? Squire A hundred pounds. How easily you forget. McNaughten But, I can't pay you a hundred pounds. I will give you half. Squire May I be pulverized to atoms, you will pay me my hundred pounds, in a quarter of an hour or I will kill you instantly. Spruce (low to McNaughten The villain is prepared to kill us both, I believe. Give it to him--if you're dead, what good will the sixty thousand pounds do you? Answer him softly. The man is desperate and has nothing to lose. McNaughten But, it's robbery. Spruce Exactly. Your money or our lives. McNaughten He's very rude and I don't like him. Spruce What a time for reflections. McNaughten If you are in such a hurry, sir, so much the worse for you. I'll seek another time to be angry. I haven't got a hundred pounds, but here are sixty. (To Spruce) Give it to him, to calm him. (Aside) Ah, if I were not in line for this sixty thousand pounds, I would die fighting, before I gave him a farthing. He looks formidable, though. It would be quite a skirmish. Spruce Here's more than half your debt, sir. Tomorrow, you will have the entire amount. McNaughten I want it clearly understood, that I protest, I do not owe you a penny. I am paying you, only because you insist that I do. Squire (taking the purse) Goodday, sir, goodday. I see your soul. You spoke of honor to me, but this proves the contrary. Never come near me again. No more of this business. My nobility would be degraded in the presence of a coward like you. (Exit Squire) McNaughten Ha, has he got a nerve, to talk like that? Where am I? In what country? Can this be England? What a race of perjurers. Men, women, squires, merchants, customs officers, Welshmen. They all seem united in an effort to enrage me. I don't know one of them, and they all pretend to be my best friend come to surprise me. Let's go to Torrington and get out of this frightful situation. (McNaughten starts to leave) Spruce (running after him and catching him) Don't you want me to escort you to him? McNaughten I have no further need of your help. I am obliged to you for the services you have rendered. (giving him some money) I couldn't praise them more. But, from now on, I am so extremely suspicious that I am going to fend for myself. Then, I will have only myself to blame if something further goes wrong. (Exit McNaughten) Spruce That fellow has got all his wits about him. He must decamp or go mad. Still, if he stays a bit longer, he'll end up paying off all my master's creditors. (Enter the Captain) Captain Ah, my beloved Spruce, you see me beside myself. My fortune is so great that I can hardly believe it. I have got the money--look! It has force and power. All portable. Bills of Exchange--the best in London. I will purchase two or three titles--with the best estates in England.