be the first wife that has detested her
husband.
DAME. No; I should think not, indeed.
VEDDER. You should think not! What do you mean by that?
DAME. Nothing!
VEDDER. Well, don't mean it again. What, do you suppose that I'll
suffer my daughter-in-law to sacrifice her fortune--a
fortune of which we shall have our share?--Herman has
promised that.
DAME. Herman will promise anything; and you know that my poor girl
is doatingly fond of young Gustaffe.
VEDDER. Well, I can't help that; but I am not going to allow her to
make a beggar of herself and us too, for any nonsense
about the man of her heart.
DAME. Hers will break if she is compelled to--
VEDDER. Nonsense--a woman's heart is about the toughest object in
creation.
DAME. You have given me plenty of proof that you think so.
VEDDER. What do you intend to imply by that?
DAME. Nothing!
VEDDER. Well, don't imply it again--don't, because--

_Enter_ Knickerbocker _and_ ALICE, _arm-in-arm--both grown stout._

KNICKERBOCKER. Halloa! what's going on--a matrimonial tiff? My wife
has just been giving me a few words, because I told her
that she waddles up and down, and rolls about like one
of our butter-laden luggers in a squall, as the Dutchmen
have it.
ALICE. You have no occasion to talk, Mr. Knickerbocker, for, I am
sure, your corporation--
KNICKERBOCKER. Yes, I belong to the town corporation, and to look
respectable, am obliged to have one of my own. Master
Vedder, a word with you. [_Talks aside with him._
ALICE. [_Going to_ DAME.] You wish now, that my poor brother Rip
hadn't died, don't you?
DAME. [_Sighing._] But I thought Nicholas Vedder would have been
just as easy to manage: he was as mild as a dove before
our marriage.
ALICE. You ought to have known that to be allowed to wear the
inexpressibles by two husbands was more than the most
deserving of our sex had any right to expect.
DAME. Oh, dear me! I never thought that I should live to be any
man's slave.
ALICE. Ah, we neve