Vedder. Well, don't imply it again—don't, because—
Enter Knickerbocker and Alice, arm-in-arm—both grown stout.
Knickerbocker. Halloa! what's going on—a matrimonial tiff? My wife has just been giving me a few words, because I told her that she waddles up and down, and rolls about like one of our butter-laden luggers in a squall, as the Dutchmen have it.
Alice. You have no occasion to talk, Mr. Knickerbocker, for, I am sure, your corporation—
Knickerbocker. Yes, I belong to the town corporation, and to look respectable, am obliged to have one of my own. Master Vedder, a word with you. [Talks aside with him.
Alice. [Going to Dame.] You wish now, that my poor brother Rip hadn't died, don't you?
Dame. [Sighing.] But I thought Nicholas Vedder would have been just as easy to manage: he was as mild as a dove before our marriage.
Alice. You ought to have known that to be allowed to wear the inexpressibles by two husbands was more than the most deserving of our sex had any right to expect.
Dame. Oh, dear me! I never thought that I should live to be any man's slave.
Alice. Ah, we never know what we may come to! but your fate will be a warning and example for me, if Mr. Knickerbocker should take it into his head to leave me a widow.