_Countess._ Not so harsh, and not so hasty! Those great sentiments of contempt of inequality in rank are very fine in a romance; but we happen not to be inhabitants of an ideal world. How could you introduce her to the circle we live in? You surely would not attempt to present her to-- _Bar._ Object as you will--my answer is--_I love._ Sister, you see a man before you, who-- _Countess._ Who wants a wife. _Bar._ No; who has deliberately poised advantage against disadvantage; domestic ease and comfort against the false gaieties of fashion. I can withdraw into the country. I need no honours to make my tenants happy; and my heart will teach me to make their happiness my own. With such a wife as this, children who resemble her, and fortune enough to spread comfort around me, what would the soul of man have more? _Countess._ This is all vastly fine. I admire your plan; only you seem to have forgotten one trifling circumstance. _Bar._ And that is-- _Countess._ Whether Mrs. Haller will have you or not. _Bar._ There, sister, I just want your assistance.--[_Seizing her hand._] Good Henrietta! _Countess._ Well, here's my hand. I'll do all I can for you. St!--We had near been overheard. They are coming. Be patient and obedient. _Enter COUNT, and MRS. HALLER, leaning on his arm._ _Count._ Upon my word, Mrs. Haller, you are a nimble walker: I should be sorry to run a race with you. _Mrs. H._ Custom, my lord. You need only take the same walk every day for a month. _Count._ Yes; if I wanted to resemble my greyhounds.--But what said the Stranger? _Countess._ He gave Charlotte a flat refusal; and you see his door, and even his shutters, are closed against us. _Count._ What an unaccountable being! But it won't do. I must show my gratitude one way or other. Steinfort, we will take the ladies home, and then you shall try once again to see him. You can talk to these oddities better than I can. _Bar._ If you wish it, with all my heart. _Count._ Thank you, thank you. Come, ladies: come Mrs. Haller. [_Exeunt._ SCENE II. _A close walk in the Garden._ _Enter COUNTESS, and MRS. HALLER._ _Countess._ Well, Mrs. Haller, how do you like the man that just now left us? _Mrs. H._ Who? _Countess._ My brother. _Mrs. H._ He deserves to be your brother. _Countess._ [_Curtseying._] Your most obedient! That shall be written in my pocket-book. _Mrs. H._ Without flattery then, madam, he appears to be most amiable. _Countess._ Good!--And a handsome man? _Mrs. H._ [_With indifference._] Oh, yes. _Countess._ "Oh, yes!" It sounded almost like, "Oh, no!" But I must tell you, that he looks upon you to be a handsome woman [_MRS. HALLER smiles._] You make no reply to this? _Mrs. H._ What shall I reply? Derision never fell from your lips; and I am little calculated to support it. _Countess._ As little as you are calculated to be the cause of it. No; I was in earnest.--Now?