will not curse my memory.

_Stra._ [_Moved._] No, I do not curse you. I shall never curse you.

_Mrs. H._ [_Agitated._] From the conviction that I am unworthy of your
name, I have, during three years abandoned it. But this is not enough;
you must have that redress which will enable you to chuse
another--another wife; in whose chaste arms, may Heaven protect your
hours in bliss! This paper will be necessary for the purpose: it
contains a written acknowledgement of my guilt.

[_Offers it, trembling._

_Stra._ [_Tearing it._] Perish the record, for ever.--No, Adelaide, you
only have possessed my heart; and, I am not ashamed to own it, you alone
will reign there for ever.--Your own sensations of virtue, your resolute
honour, forbid you to profit by my weakness; and even if--Now, by
Heaven, this is beneath a man! But--never--never will another fill
Adelaide's place here.

_Mrs. H._ [_Trembling._] Then nothing now remains but that one sad,
hard, just word--farewell!

_Stra._ Stay a moment. For some months we have, without knowing it,
lived near each other. I have learnt much good of you. You have a heart
open to the wants of your fellow creatures. I am happy that it is so.
You shall not be without the power of gratifying your benevolence. I
know you have a spirit that must shrink from a state of obligation. This
paper, to which the whole remnant of my fortune is pledged, secures you
independence, Adelaide: and let the only recommendation of the gift be,
that it will administer to you the means of indulging in charity, the
divine propensity of your nature.

_Mrs. H._ Never! To the labour of my hands alone will I owe my
sustenance. A morsel of bread, moistened with the tear of penitence,
will suffice my wishes, and exceed my merits. It would be an additional
reproach, to think that I served myself, or even others, from the bounty
of the man whom I had so deeply injured.

_Stra._ Take it, madam; take it.

_Mrs. H._ I have deserved this. But I throw myself upon your generosity.
Have compassion on me!

_Stra._ [_Aside._] Villain! of what a woman hast thou robbed me!--
[_Puts up the paper._] Well, madam, I respect your sentiments, and
withdraw my request; but on condition, that if you ever should be in
want of any thing, I may be the first and only person in the world, to
whom you will make application.

_Mrs. H._ I promise it, my lord.

_Stra._ And now I may, at least,