Cod. Well?
Lynx. My wife has this moment mentioned her name——
Cod. Then, of course, she has discovered your trick?
Lynx. You must publicly declare this girl to be your own.
Cod. What?
Lynx. Your own daughter, and that to save your secret, I undertook her charge.
Cod. Bless you—what would Mrs. Coddle say? My dear boy she’d murder me. I could not support such an assertion for the world—how could I ever look in my wife’s face afterwards?
Lynx. With more confidence than were she to know——
Cod. What? (LYNX whispers CODDLE, who staggers back to a chair in great alarm.)—I’m a dead man!