e_ a good scolding: I do indeed. I think if
you scolded me a little I should behave better.

_Sir W._ Well, then, as you encourage me, my love, I must own that a
little more punctuality would greatly heighten the zest of your society.

_Lady W._ And yet, sir Willoughby, you _must_ acknowledge that my time
is ever dedicated to that proper vigilance which the superintendance of
so large an establishment undoubtedly requires.

_Sir W._ Why, true, my love; but somehow I can't help thinking, that, as
my fortune is so ample, it is quite unnecessary that you should undergo
so much fatigue: for instance, I _do_ think that the wife of a baronet
of 12,000l. a year owes it to her rank to be otherwise employed than in
hunting after the housemaid, or sacrificing her time in the storeroom in
counting candles, or weighing out soap, starch, powder-blue, and brown
sugar.

_Lady W. (in tears)_ This is unkind, sir Willoughby, this is very
unkind.

_Sir W._ So! as usual, here's a breeze springing up. What the devil
shall I say to sooth her? Wife, wife! you drive me mad. You first beg me
to scold you, and then are offended because I obligingly comply with
your request.

_Lady W._ No, sir Willoughby, I am only _surprised_ that you should so
little know the value of a wife who daily degrades herself for your
advantage.

_Sir W._ That's the very thing I complain of. You _do_ degrade yourself.
Your economy, my life, is downright parsimony: your vigilance is
suspicion; your management is meanness; and you fidget your servants
till you make them fretful, and then prudently discharge them because
they will live with you no longer. Hey! ods life, I must sooth her: for
if company comes, and finds her in this humour, my dear-bought
reputation as a good husband is lost forever. _(Enter servant with
breakfast.)_ Come, come, my dear lady Worret, let us go to breakfast,
come _(sitting down to breakfast)_ let us talk of something else. Come,
take your tea.

_Lady W. (to servant)_ Send William to speak to me. [_Exit servant._

_Sir W._ Where's Helen?

_Lady W._ I have desired her to copy a few articles into the family
receipt book before breakfast; for as her marriage will so shortly take
place, it is necessary she should complete her studies.

_Sir W._ What, she's at work, I suppose, on the third folio volume.

_Lady W._ The _fifth_, I believe.

_Sir W._ Heaven defend us! I don't blame it; I don't censure it at all:
but I believe the case