Re-enter Lucy with Stukely.
Lucy. Mr. Stukely, madam.
[Exit.
Stu. To meet you thus alone, madam, was what I wished. Unseasonable visits, when friendship warrants them, need no excuse; therefore I make none.
Mrs. Bev. What mean you, Sir? And where's your friend?
Stu. Men may have secrets, madam, which their best friends are not admitted to. We parted in the morning, not soon to meet again.
Mrs. Bev. You mean to leave us then? To leave your country too? I am no stranger to your reasons, and pity your misfortunes.
Stu. Your pity has undone you. Could Beverley do this? That letter was a false one; a mean contrivance, to rob you of your jewels. I wrote it not.
Mrs. Bev. Impossible! Whence came it then?
Stu. Wronged as I am, madam, I must speak plainly—