_Cam._ Just by that shop, where, out of your nobleness, you promised me a new silk gown. _Mel._ O, now I understand you. _Cam._ Not that I press you to a performance-- _Mel._ Take this, and please yourself in the choice of it. [_Gives her money._ _Cam._ Nay, dear sir, now you make me blush; in faith I--am ashamed--I swear, 'tis only because I would keep something for your sake;--but my lady expects you immediately in her apartment. _Mel._ I'll wait on her, if I can possibly. [_Exit_ CAM.] But, if I can prevail with Don Alonzo for his daughter, then will I again consider, which of the ladies best deserves me. [_Aside_.] Sir, I beg your pardon for this rudeness in leaving you. [_To_ ALON. _Alon._ I cannot possibly resolve with myself to tell him openly he is a thief; but I'll gild the pill for him to swallow. [_Aside._ _Mel._ I believe he has discovered our amour: How he surveys me for a son-in-law! [_Aside._ _Alon._ Sir, I am sorry for your sake, that true nobility is not always accompanied with riches to support it in its lustre. _Mel._ You have a just exception against the capriciousness of destiny; yet, if I were owner of any noble qualities, (which I am not) I should not much esteem the goods of fortune. _Alon._ But pray conceive me, sir; your father did not leave you flourishing in wealth. _Mel._ Only a very fair seat in Andalusia, with all the pleasures imaginable about it: That alone, were my poor deserts according,--which, I confess, they are not,--were enough to make a woman happy in it. _Alon._ But give me leave to come to the point, I beseech you, sir. I have lost a jewel, which I value infinitely, and I hear it is in your possession: But I accuse your wants, not you, for it. _Mel._ Your daughter is indeed a jewel; but she were not lost, were she in possession of a man of parts. _Alon._ A precious diamond, sir---- _Mel._ But a man of honour, sir---- _Alon._ I know what you would say, sir,--that a man of honour is not capable of an unworthy action; and, therefore, I do not accuse you of the theft: I suppose the jewel was only put into your hands. _Mel._ By honourable ways, I assure you, sir. _Alon._ Sir, sir, will you restore my jewel? _Mel._ Will you please, sir, to give me leave to be the unworthy possessor of her? I know how to use her with that respect---- _Alon._ I know what you would say, sir; but if it belong to our family? otherwise, I assure you, it were at your service. _Mel._ As it belongs to your family, I covet it; not that I plead my own deserts, sir. _Alon._ Sir, I know your deserts; but, I protest, I cannot part with it: For, I must tell you, this diamond ring was originally my great-grandfather's. _Mel._ A diamond ring, sir, do you mean?----