_Ab. Gr._ Who was present, besides the parson, at your wedding? _Fanny._ There was our neighbour, the attorney, sir, and one of his clerks, and they were all-- _Ab. Gr._ My heart sinks within me--but mark me. You may remember I was not always what now I seem to be. I yesterday received intelligence which, but for this discovery, had shed a gleam of joy over my remaining days. As it is, should your husband prove the villain I suspect him, that intelligence will afford me an opportunity to resume a character in life which shall make this monster lord tremble. The wrongs of Abel Grouse, the poor but upright man, might have been pleaded in vain to him, but as I shall soon appear, it shall go hard but I will make the great man shrink before me, even in his plenitude of pride and power. _Fanny._ You terrify me, sir, indeed you do. _Ab. Gr._ And so I would. I would prepare you for the worst that may befal us: for should this man, this lord, who calls himself your husband-- _Fanny._ Dearest father, what can you mean? Who _calls_ himself my husband! He _is_ my husband. _Ab. Gr._ If he _is_ your husband, how does he dare to pay his addresses, as he now publicly does, to the daughter of sir Willoughby Worret, our neighbour. I may be mistaken. I'm in the midst here of old acquaintances, though in this guise they know me not. They shall soon see me amongst them. Not a word of this, I charge you. Come girl, this lord shall own you. If he does not, we will seek a remedy in those laws which are at once the best guardians of our rights and the surest avengers of our wrongs. [_Exeunt._ SCENE II.--_A parlour in_ sir W. Worret's _house. The breakfast prepared, urn, &c._ Sir Willoughby _reading the newspaper. He rises and rings the bell; then pulls out his watch._ _Sir W._ Three quarters of an hour since breakfast was first announced to my wife. My patience is exhausted. Oh wedlock, wedlock! why did I ever venture again into thy holy state--of misery! Of all the taxes laid on mankind by respect to society and the influence of example, no one is so burthensome as that which obliges a man to submit to a thousand ills at home, rather than be suspected of being a bad husband abroad. (_enter servant_) Go to your lady. _Serv._ I told her ladyship five times before, sir Willoughby, that breakfast was waiting. _Sir W._ Then tell her once more, and that will make six, and say I earnestly request the favour she will hasten to breakfast, as while she stays I starve. _Serv._ Yes, sir Willoughby, but she'll stop the longer for the message. (_Aside going out._) [_Exit._ _Sir W._ My wife is the very devil. It seems that she'd be miserable if she did not think me happy; yet her tenderness is my eternal torment; her affection puts me in a fidget, and her fondness in a fever. _Enter servant._ _Serv._ My lady says she wont detain you a moment, sir Willoughby. [_Exit._