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SCENE III.
_An Apartment in the Castle._
_Enter_ EVERGREEN.
_Everg._ Was ever any thing so unlucky! Henry to come to the Castle and meet Sir Philip! He should have consulted me; I shall be blamed--but, thank Heaven, I am innocent.
[SIR ABEL _and_ LADY HANDY _without._]
_Lady H._ I will be treated with respect.
_Sir Abel._ You shall, my dear. [_They enter._
_Lady H._ But how! but how, Sir Abel? I repeat it--
_Sir Philip._ [_Aside._] For the fiftieth time.
_Lady H._ Your son conducts himself with an insolence I won't endure; but you are ruled by him, you have no will of your own.
_Sir Abel._ I have not, indeed.
_Lady H._ How contemptible!
_Sir Abel._ Why, my dear, this is the case--I am like the a.s.s in the fable; and if I am doomed to carry a packsaddle, it is not much matter who drives me.
_Lady H._ To yield your power to those the law allows you to govern!--
_Sir Abel._ Is very weak, indeed.
_Everg._ Lady Handy, your very humble servant; I heartily congratulate you, madam, on your marriage with this worthy gentleman--Sir, I give you joy.
_Sir Abel._ [_Aside._] Not before 'tis wanted.
_Everg._ Aye, my lady, this match makes up for the imprudence of your first.
_Lady H._ Hem!
_Sir Abel._ Eh! What!--what's that--Eh! what do you mean?
_Everg._ I mean, sir--that Lady Handy's former husband--
_Sir Abel._ Former husband!--Why, my dear, I never knew--Eh!
_Lady H._ A mumbling old blockhead!--Didn't you, Sir Abel? Yes; I was rather married many years ago; but my husband went abroad and died.
_Sir Abel._ Died, did he?
_Everg._ Yes, sir, he was a servant in the Castle.
_Sir Abel._ Indeed! So he died--poor fellow!
_Lady H._ Yes.
_Sir Abel._ What, you are sure he died, are you?
_Lady H._ Don't you hear?
_Sir Abel._ Poor fellow! neglected perhaps--had I known it, he should have had the best advice money could have got.
_Lady H._ You seem sorry.
_Sir Abel._ Why, you would not have me pleased at the death of your husband, would you?--a good kind of man?
_Everg._ Yes; a faithful fellow--rather ruled his wife too severely.
_Sir Abel._ Did he! [_Apart to_ EVERGREEN.] Pray do you happen to recollect his manner!--Could you just give a hint of the way he had?
_Lady H._ Do you want to tyrannize over my poor tender heart?--'Tis too much!
_Everg._ Bless me! Lady Handy is ill--Salts! salts!
_Sir Abel._ [_Producing an essence box._] Here are salts, or aromatic vinegar, or essence of--
_Everg._ Any--any.
_Sir Abel._ Bless me, I can't find the key!
_Everg._ Pick the lock.
_Sir Abel._ It can't be picked, it is a patent lock.
_Everg._ Then break it open, sir.
_Sir Abel._ It can't be broke open--it is a contrivance of my own--you see, here comes a horizontal bolt, which acts upon a spring, therefore--
_Lady H._ I may die, while you are describing a horizontal bolt. Do you think you shall close your eyes for a week for this?
_Enter_ SIR PHILIP BLANDFORD.
_Sir Philip._ What has occasioned this disturbance?
_Lady H._ Ask that gentleman.
_Sir Abel._ Sir, I am accused--
_Lady H._ Convicted! convicted!
_Sir Abel._ Well, I will not argue with you about words--because I must bow to your superior practice--But, Sir--
