Cod. Not—I don’t know? what were you going to say?
Mrs. Cod. I have very strange and very terrible suspicions! ’tis surely no poor creature that you, in the hey-day of your youth——
Cod. No, no, no—my dear! How can you think—how can you dream of such a thing? I never had any hey-day—never; don’t think that of me. Come, come—let us go to Lynx’s to dinner. Get ready, dear; get ready.
Mrs. Cod. I strongly suspect you.—(MRS. CODDLE goes up the stage, and throws a shawl on her shoulders.)
Cod. What will become of me? If I escape the imputation of bigamy, the subject of that girl will be sufficient to bring my wife’s vengeance on my head; I’ll run and drown myself in a warm bath. I’ll—no, no—I must rouse, I must rouse; I must summon all my courage—all my fortitude—and bring out what little of the devil I have left in me.
Mrs. Cod. Now, Coddle, I’m quite ready.
Cod. So am I.—(Putting on his hat.)—Come along, I shall be very gay to-day; you will wonder what possesses me. I shall be so gay; come Mrs. Dismal, take my arm, my dear; ’tis bad taste to walk with one’s wife. D., look to Mrs. Coddle!
Mrs. Cod. The man’s mad——
Dis. Raving.
Cod. You shall see me to advantage, to-day; I feel a new man; you may open all the doors and windows in the house. I’ll do any thing desperate, to-day—walk to Lynx’s, without my coat, hat, any thing—come, my love.—Come Dismal.—Fol de rol, de rol lol.—(CODDLE dances off with MRS. DISMAL, L. H.)