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_ ACT IV SCENE III
Another Apartment in SIR SIMON ROCHDALE'S House.
Enter PEREGRINE.
PEREG.
Sir Simon does not hurry himself; but 'tis a custom with the great, to make the little, and the unknown, dance attendance. When I left Cornwall, as a boy, this house, I remember, was tenanted by strangers, and the Rochdales inhabited another on the estate, seven miles off.--I have lived to see some changes in the family, and may live, perhaps, to see more.
[Enter FRANK ROCHDALE.]
FRANK.
You expected, I believe, Sir Simon Rochdale, sir;
--but he will be occupied with particular business, for some time.
Can I receive your commands, sir?
PEREG.
Are you Sir Simon Rochdale's son, sir?
FRANK.
I am.
PEREG.
It was my wish, sir, to have seen your father. I come unintroduced,
and scurvily enough accoutred; but, as I have urgent matters to
communicate, and have suffered shipwreck, upon your coast,
this morning, business will excuse my obtrusion, and the sea
must apologize for my wardrobe.
FRANK.
Shipwreck! That calamity is a sufficient introduction to every roof,
I trust, in a civilized country. What can we do immediately to serve you?
PEREG.
Nothing, sir--I am here to perform service, not to require it.
I come from a wretched hut on the heath, within the ken of this
affluent mansion, where I have witnessed calamity in the extreme.
FRANK.
I do not understand you.
PEREG.
Mary!--
FRANK.
Ha.!--Now you have made me understand you. I perceive, now, on what object you have presented yourself here, to harangue. 'Tis a subject on which my own remorse would have taught me to bend to a just man's castigation; but the reproof retorts on the reprover, when he is known to be a hypocrite. My friend, sir, has taught me to know you.
PEREG.
He, whom I encountered at the house on the heath?
FRANK.
The same.
PEREG.
And what may he have taught you?
FRANK.
To discover, that your aim is to torture me, for relinquishing a beloved object, whom you are, at this moment, attaching to yourself;--to know, that a diabolical disposition, for which I cannot account, prompts you to come here, without the probability of benefiting any party, to injure me, and throw a whole family into confusion, on the eve of a marriage. But, in tearing myself from the poor, wronged, Mary, I almost tear my very heart by its fibres from the seat;----but 'tis a sacrifice to a father's repose; and--
PEREG.
Hold, sir! When you betrayed the poor, wronged, Mary, how came
you to forget, that every father's repose may be broken for
ever by his child's conduct?
FRANK.
By my honour! by my soul! it was my intention to have placed
her far, far above the reach of want; but you, my hollow monitor,
are frustrating that intention. You, who come here to preach
virtue, are tempting her to be a confirmed votary of vice,
whom I in penitence would rescue, as the victim of unguarded sensibility.
PEREG.
Are you, then, jealous of me?
FRANK.
Jealous!
PEREG.
Aye: if so, I can give you ease. Return with me, to the
injured innocent on the heath: marry her, and I will give her away.
FRANK.
Marry her! I am bound in honour to another.
PEREG.
Modern honour is a coercive argument; but when you have seduced
virtue, whose injuries you will not solidly repair, you must
be slightly bound in old-fashion'd honesty.
FRANK.
I------I know not what to say to you.
Your manner almost awes me; and there is a mystery in----
PEREG.
I am mysterious, sir. I may have other business, perhaps,
with your father; and, I will tell you, the very fate of
your family may hang on my conference with him. Come, come,
Mr. Rochdale, bring me to Sir Simon.
FRANK.
My father cannot be seen yet.
Will you, for a short time, remain in my apartment?
PEREG.
Willingly;--and depend on this, sir--I have seen enough of the world's weakness, to forgive the casual faults of youthful indiscretion;--but I have a detestation for systematic vice; and though, as a general censor, my lash may be feeble, circumstances have put a scourge in my hand, which may fall heavily on this family, should any of its branches force me to wield it.--I attend you.
[Exeunt.] _
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