affections supported me through every trial.

_Stu._ Be patient, madam.

_Mrs. Bev._ Patient! The barbarous man! And does he think my
tenderness of heart is his security for wounding it? But he shall
find that injuries such as these, can arm my weakness for vengeance
and redress.

_Stu._ Ha! then I may succeed. (_Aside._) Redress is in your power.

_Mrs. Bev._ What redress?

_Stu._ Forgive me, madam, if in my zeal to serve you, I hazard your
displeasure. Think of your wretched state. Already want surrounds
you. Is it in patience to bear That? To see your helpless little one
robbed of his birth-right? A sister too, with unavailing tears,
lamenting her lost fortune? No comfort left you, but ineffectual
pity from the Few, out-weighed by insults from the Many?

_Mrs. Bev._ Am I so lost a creature? Well, Sir, my redress?

_Stu._ To be resolved is to secure it. The marriage vow, once
violated, is in the sight of heaven dissolved--Start not, but hear
me! 'Tis now the summer of your youth; time has not cropt the roses
from your cheek, though sorrow long has washed them. Then use your
beauty wisely; and, freed by injuries, fly from the cruellest of
men, for shelter with the kindest.

_Mrs. Bev._ And who is He?