Poly. What mean you?
Charles. The unexpected arrival of my father has thrown me into a difficulty scarcely surmountable. Alas! you know but half my unhappy story.
Poly. I hope then it is the worst half, for really I have suffered—
Charles. I tremble to avow to you the full extent of my folly, and yet I dare no longer conceal any circumstance of it from you. The urgency of our situation, the danger that awaits us—
Poly. Come, come, courage; tell me all.
Charles. Know then, that having become acquainted with a young lady, the orphan daughter of an officer in the army, I grew enamoured of her, was assiduous in my attentions to her, succeeded in winning her affections, and finally—
Poly. Eh? What!—say no more—Oh! Charles, Charles—
Charles. Do but hear me to the end of my story.
Poly. I have heard too much already. And are these the fruits of my instructions? Is it by such wickedness you repay my anxious care of you?
Charles. You mistake me, sir; if you would but listen—