e._ A blessing go with thee!

_Ash._ I zay, Henry, take Jolly, and Smiler, and Captain, but dan't ye
take thic lazy beast Genius--I'll be shot if having vive load an acre on
my wheat land could please me more.

_Dame._ Tummas, here comes Susan reading the letter.

_Ash._ How pale she do look! dan't she?

_Dame._ Ah! poor thing!--If----

_Ash._ Hauld thy tongue, woolye? [_They retire._

_Enter_ SUSAN, _reading the letter._

_Susan._ Is it possible! Can the man to whom I've given my heart write
thus!--"I am compelled to marry Miss Blandford; but my love for my Susan
is unalterable--I hope she will not, for an act of necessity, cease to
think with tenderness on her faithful Robert."----Oh man! ungrateful
man! it is from our bosoms alone you derive your power; how cruel then
to use it, in fixing in those bosoms endless sorrow and
despair!----"Still think with tenderness"--Base, dishonourable
insinuation--He might have allowed me to esteem him. [_Locks up the
letter in a box on the table, and exit weeping._]

[ASHFIELD _and_ DAME _come forward._]

_Ash._ Poor thing!--What can be the matter--She locked up the letter in
thic box, and then burst into tears. [_Looks at the box._

_Dame._ Yes, Tummas; she locked it in that box sure enough.
[_Shakes a bunch of keys that hangs at her side._

_Ash._ What be doing, Dame? what be doing?

_Dame._ [_With affected indifference._] Nothing; I was only touching
these keys. [_They look at the box and keys significantly._

_Ash._ A good tightish bunch!

_Dame._ Yes; they are of all sizes. [_They look as before._

_Ash._ Indeed!--Well--Eh!--Dame, why dan't ye speak? thou canst chatter
fast enow zometimes.

_Dame._ Nay, Tummas--I dare say--if--you know best--but I think I could
find----

_Ash._ Well, Eh!--you can just try you knaw [_Greatly agitated._] You
can try, just vor the vun on't: but mind, dan't ye make a noise. [_She
opens it._] Why, thee hasn't opened it?

_Dame._ Nay, Tummas! you told me!

_Ash._ Did I?

_Dame._ There's the letter!

_Ash._ Well, why do ye gi't to I?--I dan't want it, I'm sure. [_Taking
it--he turns it over--she eyes it eagerly--he is about to open
it._]--She's coming! she's coming! [_He conceals the letter, they
tremble violently._] No, she's gone into t'other room. [_They hang their
heads dejectedly, then look at each other._] What mun that feyther an
m