_Dr. Gaines._ Good evening, Melinda! Are you not glad to see me?
_Melinda._ Sir, how can I be glad to see one who has made life a burden, and turned my sweetest moments into bitterness?
_Dr. G._ Come, Melinda, no more reproaches! You know that I love you, and I have told you, and I tell you again, that if you will give up all idea of having Glen for a husband, I will set you free, let you live in this cottage, and be your own mistress, and I’ll dress you like a lady. Come, now, be reasonable!
_Melinda._ Sir, I am your slave; you can do as you please with the avails of my labor, but you shall never tempt me to swerve from the path of virtue.
_Dr. G._ Now, Melinda, that black scoundrel Glen has been putting these notions into your head. I’ll let you know that you are my property, and I’ll do as I please with you. I’ll teach you that there is no limit to my power.
_Melinda._ Sir, let me warn you that if you compass my ruin, a woman’s bitterest curse will be laid upon your head, with all the crushing, withering weight that my soul can impart to it; a curse that shall cling to you throughout the remainder of your wretched life; a curse that shall haunt you like a spectre in your dreams by night, and attend upon you by day; a curse, too, that shall embody itself in the ghastly form of the woman whose chastity you will have outraged. Command me to bury myself in yonder stream, and I will obey you. Bid me do any thing else, but I beseech you not to commit a double crime,—outrage a woman, and make her false to her husband.
_Dr. G._ You got a husband! Who is your husband, and when were you married?
_Melinda._ Glen is my husband, and I’ve been married four weeks. Old Uncle Joseph married us one night by moonlight. I see you are angry; I pray you not to injure my husband.
_Dr. G._ Melinda, you shall never see Glen again. I have bought him from Hamilton, and I will return to Muddy Creek, and roast him at the stake. A black villain, to get into my way in that manner! Here I’ve come ten miles to-night to see you, and this is the way you receive me!
_Melinda._ Oh, master, I beg you not to injure my husband! Kill me, but spare him! Do! do! he is my husband!
_Dr. G._ You shall never see that black imp again, so good night, my lady! When I come again, you’ll give me a more cordial reception. Good night!