Sir Per. Punish baseness! what does the fellow mean?  Wha are you, sir?

Mel. A man, sir—­and one, whose fortune once bore as proud a sway as any within this county’s limits.

Lord Lum. You seem to be a soldier, sir.

Mel. I was, sir; and have the soldier’s certificate to prove my service—­rags and scars.  In my heart, for ten long years in India’s parching clime I bore my country’s cause; and in noblest dangers sustained it with my sword:  at length ungrateful peace has laid me down where welcome war first took me up,—­in poverty, and the dread of cruel creditors.—­Paternal affection brought me to my native land, in quest of an only child:—­I found her, as I thought, amiable as parental fondness could desire; but lust and foul seduction have snatched her from me, and hither am I come, fraught with a father’s anger, and a soldier’s honour, to seek the seducer and glut revenge.

Lady Mac. Pray, sir, who is your daughter?

Mel. I blush to own her—­but—­Constantia.

Eger. Is Constantia your daughter, sir?

Mel. She is; and was the only comfort that nature, fortune, or my own extravagance had left me.

Sir Per. Guid traith, then, I fancy you will find but vary little comfort fra her, for she is nai better than she shou’d be.—­She has had nai damage in this mansion.  I am told she is with bairn, but you may gang till Hadley, till one farmer Hodges’s, and there you may learn the whole story, and wha the father of the bairn is, fra a cheeld they call Melville.

Mel. Melville!

Sir Per. Yes, sir, Melville.

Mel. O! would to heaven she had no crime to answer, but her commerce with Melville.—­No, sir, he is not the man; it is your son, your Egerton, that has seduced her; and here, sir, are the evidence of his seduction.

Eger. Of my seduction!

Mel. Of yours, sir, if your name be Egerton.

Eger. I am that man, sir; but pray, what is your evidence?

Mel. These bills, and these gorgeous jewels, not to be had in her menial state, but at the price of chastity.—­Not an hour since she sent them—­ impudently sent them—­by a servant of this house—­contagious infamy started from their touch.

Eger. Sir, perhaps you may be mistaken concerning the terms on which she received them.—­Do you but clear her conduct with Melville, and I will instantly satisfy your fears concerning the jewels and her virtue.

Mel. Sir, you give me new life:  you are my better angel.  I believe in your words—­your looks:—­know then, I am that Melville.

Sir Per. How, sir! you that Melville, that was at farmer Hodges’s?

Mel. The same, sir:  it was he brought my Constantia to my arms; lodged and secreted me—­once my lowly tenant—­now my only friend.  The fear of inexorable creditors made me change my name from Harrington to Melville, till I could see and consult some who once called themselves my friends.