R._

_Pet._ Well, now; what's the matter again?

_Sol._ Call all the house together directly! Send to the game keeper;
tell him to bring some venison. Tell Rebecca to uncase the furniture,
and take the covering from the Venetian looking glasses, that her Right
Honourable Ladyship the Countess may look at her gracious countenance:
and tell the cook to let me see him without loss of time: and tell John
to catch a brace or two of carp. And tell--and tell--and tell--tell
Frederick to friz my Sunday wig.--Mercy on us!--Tell--There--Go!--
[_Exit PETER._] Heavens and earth! so little of the new furnishing of
this old castle is completed!--Where are we to put his Honourable
Lordship the Baron?

_Mrs. H._ Let him have the little chamber at the head of the stairs; it
is a neat room, and commands a beautiful prospect.

_Sol._ Very right, very right. But that room has always been occupied by
the Count's private secretary. Suppose!--Hold, I have it. You know the
little lodge at the end of the park: we can thrust the secretary into
that.

_Mrs. H._ You forget, Mr. Solomon; you told me that the Stranger lived
there.

_Sol._ Pshaw! What have we to do with the Stranger?--Who told him to
live there?--He must turn out.

_Mrs. H._ That would be unjust; for you said, that you let the dwelling
to him, and by your own account he pays well for it.

_Sol._ He does, he does. But nobody knows who he is. The devil himself
can't make him out. To be sure, I lately received a letter from Spain,
which informed me that a spy had taken up his abode in this country, and
from the description--

_Mrs. H._ A spy! Ridiculous! Every thing I have heard bespeaks him to be
a man, who may be allowed to dwell any where. His life is solitude and
silence.

_Sol._ So it is.

_Mrs. H._ You tell me too he does much good.

_Sol._ That he does.

_Mrs. H._ He hurts nothing; not the worm in his way.

_Sol._ That he does not.

_Mrs. H._ He troubles no one.

_Sol._ True! true!

_Mrs. H._ Well, what do you want more?

_Sol._ I want to know who he is. If the man would only converse a
little, one might have an opportunity of _pumping_; but if one meets him
in the lime walk, or by the river, it is nothing but--"Good
morrow;"--and off he marches. Once or twice I have contrived to edge in
a word--"Fine day."--"Yes."--"Taking a little exercise, I
perceive."--"Yes:"--and off again like a shot. The devil take such close
fellows, say I. And, like master like