PENDULOUS (Aside.) That was tender. I may be mistaken. Whilst I stood on honourable terms, Maria might have met my caresses without a blush.
(Betty, who has not attended to the entrance of Pendulous, through her eagerness to read the letter, comes forward.)
BETTY Ha! ha! ha! What a funny story, madam; and is this all you make such a fuss about? I should not care if twenty of my lovers had been—— (seeing Pendulous)—Lord, Sir, I ask pardon.
PENDULOUS
Are we not alone, then?
MISS FLYN
'Tis only Betty—my old servant. You remember Betty?
PENDULOUS
What letter is that?
MISS FLYN
O! something from her sweetheart, I suppose.
BETTY
Yes, ma'am, that is all. I shall die of laughing.
PENDULOUS
You have not surely been shewing her——
MISS FLYN I must be ingenuous. You must know, then, that I was just giving Betty a hint—as you came in.