give my servant.

_Bar._ In half an hour then we shall expect you. Remember, you have
given your word.

_Stra._ I have. [_Exit BARON.--The STRANGER walks up and down,
thoughtful and melancholy._]--Francis!

_Enter FRANCIS._

_Fra._ Sir!

_Stra._ Why are you out of the way?

_Fran._ Sir, I came when I heard you call.

_Stra._ I shall leave this place to-morrow.

_Fra._ With all my heart.

_Stra._ Perhaps to go into another land.

_Fra._ With all my heart again.

_Stra._ Perhaps into another quarter of the globe.

_Fra._ With all my heart still. Into which quarter?

_Stra._ Wherever Heaven directs! Away! away! from Europe! From this
cultivated moral lazaret! Do you hear, Francis? To-morrow early.

_Fra._ Very well. [_Going._

_Stra._ Come here, come here first, I have an errand for you. Hire that
carriage in the village; drive to the town hard by; you may be back by
sun-set. I shall give you a letter to a widow who lives there. With her
you will find two children. They are mine.

_Fra._ [_Astonished._] Your children, sir!

_Stra._ Take them, and bring them hither.

_Fra._ Your children, sir!

_Stra._ Yes, mine! Is it so very inconceivable?

_Fra._ That I should have been three years in your service, and never
have heard them mentioned, is somewhat strange.

_Stra._ Pshaw!

_Fra._ You have been married then?

_Stra._ Go, and prepare for our journey.

_Fra._ That I can do in five minutes. [_Going._

_Stra._ I shall come and write the letter directly.

_Fra._ Very well, sir. [_Exit._

_Stra._ Yes, I'll take them with me. I'll accustom myself to the sight
of them. The innocents! they shall not be poisoned by the refinements of
society. Rather let them hunt their daily sustenance upon some desert
island with their bow and arrow; or creep, like torpid Hottentots, into
a corner, and stare at each other. Better to do nothing than to do evil.
Fool that I was, to be prevailed upon once more to exhibit myself among
these apes! What a ridiculous figure shall I be! and in the capacity of
a suitor too! Pshaw! he cannot be serious! 'Tis but a friendly artifice
to draw me from my solitude. Why did I promise him? Yes, my sufferings
have been many; and, to oblige a friend, why should I hesitate to add
another painful hour to the wretched calendar of my life! I'll go. I'll
go.