Mrs. V. B. I forget the exact date.
Fitz. Where were you married, and by whom?
Mrs. V. B. By—by (after some hesitation)—Sir, by your own admission you are a mere spy. How am I to know that you are not asking these questions with a view to using them against me?
Fitz. (much hurt). Ma’am, may you never know the depth of the wound you have inflicted. It will canker, ma’am, but don’t be alarmed, it shall not inconvenience you, for I will remove it from your sight. When we meet again, you will find me in the assumed character of a person who has not had his best feelings harrowed up for a considerable time. It will be a difficult assumption, ma’am, but I will do my best to sustain the fiction.[Exit.
Mrs. V. B. At last! at last my punishment is at hand. And Eve—great heavens, what will become of her? Eve—who loves and honors me—Eve, my child! I mustn’t think of that. It will madden me. I shall want all my head for what is to come! If news of this—marriage of mine (with a bitter laugh) had reached my godfather, he would have described me in his will as Captain Van Brugh’s wife, and then I am lost, and Eve is lost. Oh, why don’t that man come. This suspense is terrible. At last! He’s here!
Enter Eve and Fred with Dr. Athelney.
Eve. Mr. Smailey has returned with the will. Frederick has been explaining to me the difference between freehold and leasehold, and you don’t know how anxious I am to know which it is.
Fred. Eve, Eve, this is very mercenary.
Enter Smailey.
Mr. S. Mrs. Van Brugh, I am most happy to tell you that it is every thing that could be wished. My dear Mrs. Van Brugh, the Buckinghamshire farm is freehold. Here is the clause which refers to it: (Reads very deliberately.) After giving you Westland Park, the Blackfriars estate, and the two reversions, the testator goes on to say, “And I further will and bequeathe all that messuage known as Goldacre Farm, together with all out-houses, ways, watercourses, trees, commonable rights, easements and appurtenances, and all the estate and rights of the said Richard Goldacre in and to the same, unto and to the use of the said Catherine Ellen, wife of Richard Van Brugh, Esq., a captain in the Royal Navy, her heirs and assigns forever.”