CAPTAIN BUGBY [Profusely.] Ah, Master Dickonson! my dear friend Master Dickonson—this is indeed—ah! How is his lordship since—aha! but discretion! Mistress Dodge—her servant! Ah! yes, [Indicating his pipe with a smile of satisfaction.] the latest, I assure you; the very latest from London. Ask Master Dickonson.
MINISTER DODGE [Looking at Captain Bugby.] These will hatch out in the springtime.
CAPTAIN BUGBY [Confidentially to Dickon.] But really, my good friend, may not I venture to inquire how his lordship—ah! has been in health since the—ah! since—
DICKON [Impressively.] Oh! quite, quite!
[Enter Mistress Merton; she joins Justice Merton and Minister Dodge.]
CAPTAIN BUGBY You know, I informed Squire Talbot of his lordship’s epigrammatic retort—his retort of—shh! ha haha! Oh, that reply was a stiletto; ’twas sharper than a sword-thrust, I assure you. To have conceived it—’twas inspiration; but to have expressed it—oh! ’twas genius. Hush! “Flails!” Oh! It sticks me now in the ribs. I shall die with concealing it.
MINISTER DODGE [To Mistress Merton.] ’Tis true, mistress; but if there were more like your brother in the parish, the conscience of the community would be clearer.
MICAH The Reverend Master Rand of Harvard College; the Reverend Master Todd of Harvard College.
[Exit. Enter two elderly, straight-backed divines.]