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TO MARRY, OR NOT TO MARRY.

ACT THE FIRST.

Table of Contents

SCENE I.

Table of Contents

A Hall at the Country Seat of Sir Oswin Mortland.

A loud Knocking at the Gate.

Enter Mrs. Sarah Mortland, followed by a Servant.

Mrs. M.Tell the coachman I shan’t want the carriage this morning.—And observe, if my brother should ask for me, I am gone to take a walk in the beech grove.

Serv.Yes, ma’am.

[Exit Servant.

Enter another Servant.

Serv.Ma’am, there’s a young lady in a post chaise just stopt at the gate, and says she must see you.

Mrs. M.A young lady!—Must see me!—Who is she?—What is her name?

Serv.I asked her name, ma’am, but she refused to tell it.

Mrs. M.Refused to send me her name!—Then pray inform her that I am not at home—tell her I’m busy—I will be seen by no one.

Serv.I told her, ma’am, that you were busy, and that you had company, and that you were not at-home; but she says she has come post more than twenty miles on purpose to pay you a visit, and cannot return without seeing you.

Mrs. M.What an impertinent!—Come post!—show her in—how extremely ridiculous and ill bred!

Serv.Here she is, ma’am.

[Exit Servant.

Enter Hester, in great agitation.

Mrs. M.My dear Miss——! It is Miss ——, the young lady I met at Beverley—is it not?—What in the name of wonder——

Hester.Oh, Mrs. Sarah Mortland!—Oh, madam, pity and forgive me!—forgive this intrusion, and pity the cause of it.

Mrs. M.My dear, I must forgive all you do.

[Dissatisfiedly.

Hester.I thought so, madam—I hoped you would forgive me, when I resolved to take this liberty. The kindness, the partiality you showed towards me, the very first time I was in your company——

Mrs. M.And which was the last, I believe, my dear; for I think I never saw you but once in my life.

Hester.No, madam; at Mrs. Brian’s ball, when you were there at Beverley races. But that once you praised my dancing, my singing, my conversation!—You said, if you remember, that you wished you had just such a young companion as I was; you told me you should be glad to see me at any time—and so I am come.

Mrs. M.[Disconcerted.] Well!—and I am glad, very glad to see you.—I don’t say I’m not.—Only a little surprised, my dear, that you did not wait for a more formal invitation.

Hester.What it wanted in form, you made up with earnestness.

Mrs. M.And I then, at that time, felt all the ardour I expressed. But, my dear, are you come by yourself?

Hester.Did you wish me to bring any body else?

Mrs. M.No, no.

[Hastily.

Hester.I thought you would not—so I flew to you all alone, in my distress.

[Weeps.

Mrs. M.But what distress? And why are you in tears?—I hope you have not run away from your friends?

Hester.I have no friend but you.

Mrs. M.Hem! hem! [Confounded.] But, my dear, tell me what is all this about? And why [Frightened, and angry.] have I the pleasure of seeing you here?

Hester.You know that I am an orphan!

Mrs. M.Yes—that I was told—but I really forget your name.

Hester.My christian name is Hester—and when I am called by any other, it is that of my guardian, with whom I have lived from my infancy—Mr. Ashdale.

Mrs. M.Hester Ashdale.

Hester.For my guardian never speaks of my own family but with reproach; has seldom permitted me to ask him any questions concerning them; and, indeed, has ever treated me with cruelty!

[Weeping.

Mrs. M.We all have our trials, and we ought all to submit to them.

Hester.But mayn’t we run away from them?

Mrs. M.Not always. Pray, when did you leave your guardian’s house?

Hester.This very morning.—This very morning I was to have been married—and they are now all waiting for me at the church, or by this time gone home to a very uncomfortable dinner without me.

Mrs. M.Without the bride!—Was there ever—

Hester.But, if you knew the intended bridegroom, you would not wonder.—He is so odious to me, that I had rather stay with you by half, and be your companion or servant.—I’ll read—I’ll sing—I’ll work—I’ll do every thing to please you.

Mrs. M.But, my dear, this house I cannot call my own.—It is, in fact, my brother’s, Sir Oswin Mortland’s.—As I live entirely in the country, he suffers me to pass for the mistress of it, but at present, he’s down here himself; and though much younger than I am, yet he is so much richer and wiser than I am, that he commands me in every thing. Indeed, such is his temper, he will always be lord and master of every place into which he condescends to enter; and he hates intruders—strangers—strange ladies in particular.

Hester.Then why did you invite me to come?

Mrs. M.I invited you—but I did not fix the time.

Hester.No, madam—but I thought I might.

Mrs. M.Then, your indiscretion in quitting your guardian’s house, and your intended, husband!—Why did you give your consent to marry?

Hester.I was in such fear of my guardian’s anger, and his wife’s peevishness—I had no sense, no skill, no argument to answer all they said to prevail on me! It was, beside, so ill bred to tell a gentleman that I could not love him—that I could not bear to live with him—that he was disagreeable to me!

Mrs. M.So, then, you consented without any apparent reluctance!

Hester.I am sure I looked reluctantly: but I was obliged to say yes, to all they asked of me.

Mrs. M.Then you should have kept your word.

Hester.Indeed and so I intended, till it came to the very last—then I planned my escape. Did you never resolve on a thing, and think you would do it whatever it cost you: then, just on the point when it was to be done, find your heart sink, and all your resolutions turn to nothing?

Mrs. M.It must have been some very shocking husband they designed for you, to give you such an aversion!

Hester.Oh, he was not so very bad neither!—I dare say you would have had no objection to marry him: but I always said to myself—“I think a wedding is so pleasant;—the bells ring so sweetly; the bride and the bridemaids look so nice; and every one so joyful—that I never will marry, unless I can be joyful too.”

Mrs. M.But when you return to your guardians, what do you think they will say to you for this conduct?

Hester.I never mean to return, madam; and by the time I have lived a week or two here, perhaps you may never wish me to go back.

Mrs. M.“A week or two!”—“never go back!”—I must instantly acquaint Sir Oswin with this visit, and obtain his permission, before I can venture to say you shall stay here even an hour or two.

Hester.Then dear, dear Mrs. Sarah Mortland, as this Sir Oswin is a cross, illnatured man, don’t say I ran away just as I was going to be married: it may make him think me to blame.

Mrs. M.Tell him that!—Not for the universe!—If I were, he would not merely turn you out of his house, but me, for suffering you to come into it.—Step into that room while I go to him.

Hester.Oh, madam! rash as I may seem in having ventured hither, my heart has beat with fear more than with hope. Pity me as a stranger, if not as an acquaintance, and reflect that on my reception here, depends all my future prospects.

[Exit Hester.

Mrs. M.I vow she has put me in such a fright!—What can I say to Sir Oswin? I did ask her to come and see me, to be sure; and it would be uncharitable to turn her out; and yet it was equally uncharitable to come on such a slight invitation.

[Exit.