MISS HENRIETTA. Is it that Miss Livvy is an obstacle?
MISS SUSAN (who knows that there is no hope for her but in flight). I think I hear Phoebe calling me—a sudden indisposition. Pray excuse me, Henrietta. (She goes.)
MISS HENRIETTA. We know not, sir, whether to offer you our felicitations?
VALENTINE (cogitating). May I ask, ma'am, what you mean by an obstacle? Is there some mystery about Miss Livvy?
MISS HENRIETTA. So much so, sir, that we at one time thought she and Miss Phoebe were the same person.
VALENTINE. Pshaw!
MISS FANNY. Why will they admit no physician into her presence?
MISS HENRIETTA. The blinds of her room are kept most artfully drawn.
MISS FANNY (plaintively). We have never seen her, sir. Neither Miss Susan nor Miss Phoebe will present her to us.
VALENTINE (impressed). Indeed.