University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Chester and Mary.—(Outskirts of Town.)
Mary.
He is a student at the college.

Ches.
Mark you, he is a student, and knows the trick.
He has a brother too, Vincent, a gay
Free, dashing animal, or so I hear,
But I hate characters at second-hand.
You know they are towns-people; 't is an old,
And comfortable family, I hear
Pest on't, my brains won't hold much matter now,
I am too old for gossip.

Mary.
Has he a sister?

Ches.
Who wants that good device? it is a part
Of every comfortable family.

Mary.
My father's mansion, will you enter?

Ches.
No, Mary, not to-night. (Mary goes in.)

(Chester alone.)
What comes of this,
When two youths come together, but woman
Rarely loves,—a play upon the word, So, So!
As I grow old, I lose all reasoning.
I hunt most nimble shadows, and have grown
A perfect knave for picking out old seams.

(Enter William Gray.)
Gray.
Good evening Mr. Chester. I call it evening,
For I see you walk, and they say here your gait
Is nightly.

Ches.
I have seen Henry now, and Mary came,
He had not known her,—strange!

Gray.
Mary, the banker's daughter; a girl of promise.

Ches.
They are old friends of mine, banker and all.
I've held him on my arm, and made him quake
At jingling coppers. He's richer now-a-days.

Gray.
'T would please me to make more of them.

Ches.
I will contrive it. There are times in life,
When one must hold the cherry to his lips,
Who faints to pluck a fair maid by the ear.