Clem. All gone, dear Edward?
(Mrs Jellybags, who has been sitting very still, takes her handkerchief from her eyes and listens.)
Edw. Yes, gone!—gone for ever! Do you imagine, my ever dear Clementina, that I would be so base, so cruel, so regardless of you and your welfare, to entrap you into marriage with only one hundred and fifty pounds! No, no!—judge me better. I sacrifice myself—my happiness—all for you!—banish myself from your dear presence, and retire to pass the remainder of my existence in misery and regret, maddened with the feeling that some happier mortal will obtain that dear hand, and will rejoice in the possession of those charms which I had too fondly, too credulously, imagined as certain to be mine.
(Takes out his handkerchief and covers his face; Clementina also puts her handkerchief to her face and weeps. Mrs Jellybags nods her head ironically.)
Clem. Edward!
Edw. My dear, dear Clementina!
Clem. You won’t have me?
Edw. My honour forbids it. If you knew my feelings—how this poor heart is racked!
Clem. Don’t leave me, Edward. Did you not say that for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, you would be mine, till death did us part?
Edw. Did I!