Dearest Mellefont, how flattering to me is this uneasiness I And how happy are we both in that it is unnecessary. Read his letter! (_To_ Marwood, _whilst_ Mellefont _reads the letter_.) He will be astonished at the love of my father. Of my father? Ah, he is _his_ now too.
Yes, Madam, you have good cause to be surprised at this change. He forgives us everything; we shall now love each other before his eyes; he allows it, he commands it. How has this kindness gone to my very soul! Well, Mellefont? (_who returns the letter to her_). You are silent? Oh no, this tear which steals from your eye says far more than your lips could say.
How I have injured my own cause. Imprudent woman that I was!
Oh, let me kiss this tear from your cheek.
Ah, Sara, why was it our fate to grieve such a godlike man? Yes, a godlike man, for what is more godlike than to forgive? Could we only have imagined such a happy issue possible, we should not now owe it to such violent means, we should owe it to our entreaties alone. What happiness is in store for me! But how painful also will be the conviction, that I am so unworthy of this happiness!
How perfectly you justify my love by such thoughts.
You too, Madam, must read my father's letter. You seem to take too great an interest in our fate to be indifferent to its contents.
But, Madam, you still seem very thoughtful, very sad----
I tremble for you both. Could not this unforeseen kindness of your father be a dissimulation? An artifice?
Assuredly not, Madam, assuredly not. Only read and you will admit it yourself. Dissimulation is always cold, it is not capable of such tender words. (Marwood _reads_.) Do not grow suspicious, Mellefont, I beg. I pledge myself that my father cannot condescend to an artifice. He says nothing which he does not think, falseness is a vice unknown to him.
Oh, of that I am thoroughly convinced, dearest Sara! You must pardon Lady Solmes for this suspicion, since she does not know the man whom it concerns.
SARA (_whilst_ Marwood _returns the letter to her_).
What do I see, my lady? You are pale! You tremble! What is the matter with you?
What anxiety I suffer? Why did I bring her here?
It is nothing but a slight dizziness, which will pass over. The night air on my journey must have disagreed with me.