_Mr. S._ A shilling! My very dear lady, you haven’t a penny.
_Mr. S._ Mrs. Van Brugh, I will be candid with you. The Smaileys are a very, very old and very famous family. No suspicion of a bar sinister has ever shadowed their escutcheon. My son is betrothed to your daughter, and I have reason to believe that you are not entitled to the name you bear. Therefore, in his interests, and in those of his slumbering ancestors, I have taken steps to ascertain the truth.
_Mrs. V. B._ (_much agitated_). What do you hope to prove?
_Mr. S._ That when you went through the form of marriage with the late Captain Van Brugh you knew that his first wife was still alive.
_Mrs. V. B._ (_wildly_). No, no, no! Mr. Smailey, it is bad enough, but not so bad as that. Oh, Mr. Smailey, dismiss that fearful thought from your mind, and I will tell you the truth I came here to tell. It’s a bitter, bitter truth, but not so bad as you would make it out to be.
_Mrs. V. B._ I--I--when I met Captain Van Brugh--I was very young, and my mother was dead--and-- (_Bursts into tears and sobs wildly, laying her head on the table._)
_Mrs. V. B._ Oh, man, man, can’t you read it in these tears? Is there not shame enough in my face, that you want it in shameful words. Read what you see before you, and as you are a man with a heart, keep my secret; oh, keep my unhappy secret!
_Mr. S._ What! am I to understand that you never even went through the _form_ of marriage with Captain Van Brugh?
_Mrs. V. B._ (_under her breath_). Never!
_Mr. S._ (_after a pause_). I decline to believe you. I had hoped that it was barely possible you were the unconscious dupe of a reckless scamp. I now believe that you were well aware of the crime you were committing, and you take this step to avoid its legal consequences.
_Mrs. V. B._ (_with forced calmness_). Mr. Smailey, I have, perhaps, no right to be indignant at this insult; but you are mistaken--utterly mistaken. Have you no pity, no sympathy? See, every thing I possess is legally yours; I leave your presence penniless. Commence an action against me, and I will quietly yield up every thing before the case comes into court; but, if you love your son, spare me the shame, the intolerable shame, of a public exposure!