_Enter_ SUSAN--_she at first hesitates--on hearing the word_ wife, _she springs into his arms._
_Handy, jun._ Yes, those charms have conquered.
_Susan._ Oh! no; do not so disgrace the victory you have gained--'tis your own virtue that has triumphed.
_Handy, jun._ My Susan! how true it is that fools alone are vicious. But let us fly to my father, and obtain his consent. On recollection, that may not be quite so easy. His arrangements with Sir Philip Blandford are--are--not mine, so there's an end of that. And Sir Philip, by misfortune, knows how to appreciate happiness. Then poor Miss Blandford--upon my soul I feel for her.
_Susan._ [_Ironically._] Come, don't make yourself miserable. If my suspicions be true, she'll not break her heart for your loss.
_Handy, jun._ Nay, don't say so; she will be unhappy.
_Ash._ [_Without._] There he is. Dame, shall I shoot at un?
_Ash._ Then I'll leather un wi' my stick.
_Ash._ What do thee do here with my Sue, eh?
_Handy, jun._ With your Sue!--she's mine--mine by a husband's right.
_Ash._ Husband! what, thee Sue's husband?
_Ash._ But how tho'?--What! faith and troth?--What! like as I married Dame?
_Handy, jun._ Yes; and from this moment I'll maintain, that the real temple of love is a parish church--Cupid is a chubby curate--his torch is the sexton's lantern--and the according pæan of the spheres is the profound nasal thorough bass of the clerk's Amen.
_Ash._ Huzza! only to think now--my blessing go with you, my children!
_Ash._ And Heaven's blessing too. Ecod, I believe now, as thy feyther zays, thee canst do every thing!
_Handy, jun._ No; for there is one thing I cannot do--injure the innocence of woman.
_Ash._ Drabbit it! I shall walk in the road all day to zee Sue ride by in her own coach.
_Dame._ I say, Tummas, what will Mrs. Grundy say then?
_Ash._ I do hope thee will not be asham'd of thy feyther in laa, wool ye?
_Handy, jun._ No; for then I must also be ashamed of myself, which I am resolved not to be again.
_Sir Abel._ Heyday, Bob! why an't you gallanting your intended bride? but you are never where you ought to be.
_Handy, jun._ Nay, sir, by your own confession I _am_ where I ought to be.
_Sir Abel._ No! you ought to be at the Castle--Sir Philip is there, and Miss Blandford is there, and Lady Handy is there, and therefore--