s. Bev._ Proceed, Sir.

_Stu._ It is a debt due to my fame, due to an injured wife too--We
both are injured.

_Mrs. Bev._ How injured? and who has injured us?

_Stu._ My friend, your husband.

_Mrs. Bev._ You would resent for both then? But know, Sir, My
injuries are my own, and do not need a champion.

_Stu._ Be not too hasty, madam. I come not in resentment, but for
acquittance. You thought me poor; and to the feigned distresses of a
friend gave up your jewels.

_Mrs. Bev._ I gave them to a husband.

_Stu._ Who gave them to a--

_Mrs. Bev._ What? Whom did he give them to?

_Stu._ A mistress.

_Mrs. Bev._ No; on my life he did not.

_Stu._ Himself confessed it, with curses on her avarice.

_Mrs. Bev._ I'll not believe it. He has no mistress--or if he has,
why is it told to Me?

_Stu._ To guard you against insults. He told me, that to move you to
compliance, he forged that letter, pretending I was ruined; ruined
by Him too. The fraud succeeded; and what a trusting wife bestowed
in pity, was lavished on a wanton.

_Mrs. Bev._ Then I am lost indeed; and my afflictions are too
powerful for me. His follies I have borne without upbraiding, and
saw the approach of poverty without a tear. My affections, my strong
affections supported me through every trial.

_Stu._ Be patient, madam.

_Mrs. Bev._ Patient! The barbarous man! And does he think my
tenderness of heart is his security for wounding it? But he shall
find that injuries such as these, can arm my weakness for vengeance
and redress.

_Stu._ Ha! then I may succeed. (_Aside._) Redress is in your power.

_Mrs. Bev._ What redress?

_Stu._ Forgive me, madam, if in my zeal to serve you, I hazard your
displeasure. Think of your wretched state. Already want surrounds
you. Is it in patience to bear That? To see your helpless little one
robbed of his birth-right? A sister too, with unavailing tears,
lamenting her lost fortune? No comfort left you, but ineffectual
pity from the Few, out-weighed by insults from the Many?

_Mrs. Bev._ Am I so lost a creature? Well, Sir, my redress?

_Stu._ To be resolved is to secure it. The marriage vow, once
violated, is in the sight of heaven dissolved--Start not, but hear
me! 'Tis now the summer of your youth; time has not cropt the roses
from your cheek, though sorrow long has washed them. Then use your
beauty wisely; and, freed by injuries, fly from the cruellest of
men, for shelter with the kindest.

_Mrs. Bev._