receiving us again.

MARWOOD.

Do not torture me with gratitude which I never wished to deserve. Sir
William is too good an old fool; he must think differently from what I
should have thought in his place. I should have forgiven my daughter,
but as to her seducer I should have----

MELLEFONT.

Marwood!

MARWOOD.

True; you yourself are the seducer! I am silent. Shall I be presently
allowed to pay my farewell visit to Miss Sampson?

MELLEFONT.

Sara could not be offended, even if you left without seeing her again.

MARWOOD.

Mellefont, I do not like playing my part by halves, and I have no wish
to be taken, even under an assumed name, for a woman without breeding.

MELLEFONT.

If you care for your own peace of mind you ought to avoid seeing a
person again who must awaken certain thoughts in you which----

MARWOOD (_smiling disdainfully_).

You have a better opinion of yourself than of me. But even if you
believed that I should be inconsolable on your account, you ought at
least to believe it in silence.--Miss Sampson would awaken certain
thoughts in me? Certain thoughts! Oh yes; but none more certain than
this--that the best girl can often love the most worthless man.

MELLEFONT.

Charming, Marwood, perfectly charming. Now you are as I have long
wished to see you; although I could almost have wished, as I told you
before, that we could have retained some respect for each other. But
this may perhaps come still when once your fermenting heart has cooled
down. Excuse me for a moment. I will fetch Miss Sampson to see you.

Scene V.

MARWOOD (_looking round_).

Am I alone? Can I take breath again unobserved, and let the muscles of
my face relax into their natural position? I must just for a moment be
the true Marwood in all my features to be able again to bear the
restraint of dissimulation! How I hate thee, base dissimulation! Not
because I love sincerity, but because thou art the most pitiable refuge
of powerless revenge. I certainly would not condescend to thee, if a
tyrant would lend me his power or Heaven its thunderbolt.--Yet, if thou
only servest my end! The beginning is promising, and Mellefont seems
disp