Another feeling softly whispered—
“Uh! uh! with my own knowledge and consent to be thus disgraced! But then, again, who will know it? and what is there in the whole affair? I receive a certain good in lieu of what has long ceased to have any charms for me.
The evil consists in the idea alone, and it will be a secret between me and my wife. But, stating the case fairly, can I arrive at so high a distinction at a cheaper rate? Will it not be a nail in the alderman’s coffin; and what will the citizens not say when they see that his imperial majesty knows how to value me? Shall I not get every thing into my power, and revenge myself on those who have thwarted and contradicted me? Ho! ho! Mr. Mayor; be no fool; seize fortune by the forelock. Man is only what he appears in the eyes of the world, and no one asks the nobleman how he became so. But there is my wife; she will set herself against my advancement, for I well know her Saxon prudery.”
At that very moment she entered the room, eager to learn from her husband what the magnificent stranger had confided to him in private. He looked at her with a roguish leer, but still with some degree of bashfulness.
Mayor. Well, my chick, suppose I were to make thee a noblewoman to-day?
Mayoress. Then, duck, the wives of all the
citizens and magistrates would swoon with envy, and the alderman’s lady would instantly die of that husky cough which has so long assailed her.
Mayor. That she would, for certain; and I could crush her proud husband beneath my foot. But hark, my chick: it only rests with you to bring all this about.
Mayoress. Who ever heard of wives making their husbands noblemen, duck?
Mayor. Who knows, my child, how many have been made so? But be not terrified; you have driven that cursed Faustus out of his wits. (The Mayoress blushed; he continued) Only on his account will the envoy create me a nobleman, and Faustus is to deliver to thee the patent of nobility in private. You understand me, I perceive. Hem! What do you think of the plan?