it has been played out, and you unwittingly
have acted the clown.

ELSWORTH. I am confounded.

CLEVELAND. The end is not yet. I refuse to be governed by a forced
construction to a promise which I meant to apply differently. The
rebel is still my prisoner. He is surrounded.

ROSE. If your promise is not observed to the letter, I'll proclaim
you through the army. I'll degrade you in the eyes of every English
officer and gentleman in the land. You disgrace your sword, sir, by
this very hesitation. Your bitter, unsoldierly, and dishonourable
hatred and persecution of an honourable prisoner, drove me to an
extremity which nothing but a question of life or death could have
persuaded me to undertake. My womanly modesty I was forced to outrage.
You compelled me to stoop to things which I abhorred. But I have a
brother who is an English officer; a husband who is an American one.
Be careful, sir, in what way you use my name in connection with this
night's work, for, be assured, they will not fail to punish a ribald,
a slanderous, or a libertine tongue. Consent to Captain Armstrong's
release, and your discomfiture remains a secret; refuse, and with one
word, I'll have all our guests upon the spot and a public confession.

CLEVELAND. It's absurd to suppose that I'm to be bound by such
figments as you have woven. The thing is too ridiculous!

ROSE. You acknowledged the binding nature of your promise, when you
attempted, with such heartless cruelty, to entrap the Captain into a
marriage with a servant. How would that story sound, think you? And
what would be said of the sagacity and discernment of an officer who
could allow such a deceit to be practised upon him as I practised upon
you? Dear me! I think, Major, that you are in a quandary.

METCALF. [_Aside_.] In a ditch!

ROSE. We await your decision. Shall the Captain be free and this
little jest go no further?

CLEVELAND. Miss Elsworth--

ROSE. Excuse me if I assist your memory--Mrs. Armstrong.

CLEVELAND. Madam, I yield to a woman. You fight with weapons I do not
understand--

ROSE. With wit, eh?

CLEVELAND. [_Aside_.] There is no hope for me. She has me at every
point. I may as well yield with what grace I can. [_Aloud_.] Miss
Elsworth, I am at your mercy. May not this night's work be forgotten?
Captain Armstrong, I swore if ever I caught you, that you should
pay dearly for that daring trick of yours--that bold capture of a
fellow-officer, sleeping by my very sid