bandoned
them? [_Weeps._] What a wretched outcast am I! And that just to-day I
should be doomed to feel these horrible emotions! just to-day, when
disguise was so necessary.

_Enter CHARLOTTE._

_Char._ [_Entering._] Very pretty, very pretty indeed; better send me to
the garret at once. Your servant, Mrs. Haller. I beg, madam, I may have
a room fit for a respectable person.

_Mrs. H._ The chamber into which you have been shown is, I think, a very
neat one.

_Char._ A very neat one, is it? Up the back stairs, and over the
laundry! I should never be able to close my eyes.

_Mrs. H._ [_Very mildly._] I slept there a whole year.

_Char._ Did you? Then I advise you to remove into it again, and the
sooner the better. I'd have you to know, madam, there is a material
difference between certain persons and certain persons. Much depends
upon the manner in which one has been educated. I think, madam, it would
only be proper if you resigned your room to me.

_Mrs. H._ If the Countess desires it, certainly.

_Char._ The Countess! Very pretty, indeed! Would you have me think of
plaguing her ladyship with such trifles? I shall order my trunk to be
carried where-ever I please.

_Mrs. H._ Certainly; only not into my chamber.

_Char._ Provoking creature! But how could I expect to find breeding
among creatures born of one knows not whom, and coming one knows not
whence?

_Mrs. H._ The remark is very just.

_Enter PETER, in haste._

_Pet._ Oh lud! Oh lud! Oh lud! Oh lud!

_Mrs. H._ What's the matter?

_Pet._ The child has fallen into the river! His little Excellency is
drowned!

_Mrs. H._ Who? What?

_Pet._ His honour, my young master!

_Mrs. H._ Drowned?

_Pet._ Yes.

_Mrs. H._ Dead?

_Pet._ No; he's not dead.

_Mrs. H._ Well, well, then softly;--you will alarm the Countess.

_Enter the BARON._

_Bar._ What is the matter? Why all this noise?

_Pet._ Noise? why--

_Mrs. H._ Be not alarmed, my lord. Whatever may have happened, the dear
child is now at least safe. You said so, I think, master Peter?

_Pet._ Why, to be sure, his little Excellency is not hurt; but he's very
wet though: and the Count is taking him by the garden door to the
house.

_Bar._ Right, that the countess may not be alarmed. But tell us, young
man, how could it happen?

_Pet._ From beginning to end?

_Mrs. H._ Never mind particulars. You attended the dear child?

_Pet._ True.

_Mrs. H._ Into the park?

_Pet.