SCENE III.

_A Gallery in the Boarding House; in the flat are two practicable doors. LYNX heard within._

LYNX. (_Within._)--Villain! Villain! what do you here?--(_a noise as of a struggle; a scream heard_)--I am unarmed, or you should not leave this place alive; come, Emmeline, come with me.

_Enter LYNX dragging out his wife, she is pale and agitated._

MRS. LY. Ah Lionel--is it, is it you? Oh bless you, bless you.--(_taking his hands--he places her in a chair_)--I have brought this upon myself.

LYNX. But you are safe; and who has saved you?

MRS. LY. (_Falling on his neck._)--My husband!

LYNX. Stay you here, I _will_ follow him and have revenge.

MRS. LY. (_Clinging to him._)--Nay, nay, I implore you stay near me--about me--leave me not again.

LYNX. But I have now a clue to him, which I will not forsake till his heart's blood atones for my injuries.

MRS. LY. Do you know him, that you speak thus?

LYNX. I do, indeed.

MRS. LY. Who--and what is he?

LYNX. Who? listen, Emmeline; the deceiver of my sister, and the father of that girl, through whom we separated and thus meet again.

MRS. LY. The father!

LYNX. I dared not confess as much before. I was bound, sworn to secrecy by my sister; but her death now makes me free to tell you all.

MRS. LY. Forgive me--I--I am satisfied.

LYNX. You shall first know that you have good cause to be so; that villain in early life wronged my sister; she afterwards married; had her previous intimacy with this man been known, ruin, in the noble sphere in which she moved, must have awaited her; I kept her secret religiously, and as you know, at the expence of my own peace; I was as a father to the girl; and though she left the asylum in which I placed her, yet 'twas for an honourable and a happy marriage.

MRS. LY. No more, no more, dear Lionel; I have been a weak, and foolish woman, but never will I doubt you again.

LYNX. And never more, dear Emmeline will I give you cause; on the conduct of the husband chiefly rests the virtue of the wife, and I here renounce all my follies for ever. But for that villain----

MRS. LY. Nay, nay, be satisfied, be at peace; and let mutual confidence henceforth secure to us that happiness to which we have so long been strangers.

LYNX. It shall, Emmeline, it shall.--(_They embrace._)

_Enter MR. and MRS. YOUNGHUSBAND and MR. and MRS. DISMAL, arm in arm, and laughing; MRS. DOVE following._

MRS. Y. What! Mr. and Mrs. Lynx, and embracing too: then you have explained and made it up, as we have done. Well, this is delightful! Mr. and Mrs. Dismal are friends; I saw him watching his house; I rushed out--dragged him in.--Y., who was with him, followed; we pouted a little--coquetted a little--cried a little--and then rushed into one another's arms; didn't we, Frederick?

YOUNG. No, I----

MRS. Y. Hush! remember, dear; you have promised never to contradict me again.

MRS. DIS. And my George has vowed to be as kind, and as attentive in future, as----

DIS. As I can.

MRS. Y. There is poor Mrs. Dove in an agony about her Henry. She left Mrs. Coddle--came to us--was told that her husband was in this house--and he is still no where to be found.

LYNX. We heard both him and Mr. Coddle here not long since.

(_DOVE, without._)

DOVE. Martha!

MRS. DOVE. Ah! I hear his welcome voice.

_Enter DOVE, his clothes torn to ribbands._

DOVE. Martha! are you here? Oh, look at me!

MRS. DOVE. Henry! look at me, and forgive me.

DOVE. Forgive you, Martha! yes, that I will, after what I've suffered since our abduction. This is all Mr. Coddle's doings; I was his witness, and he wouldn't let me leave him, till I had seen aunt Hobbs and Mrs. Coddle, in his presence. We have seen 'em; aunt Hobbs is gone off again; and Mr. and Mrs. Coddle are coming here with all their differences _re-united_.

MRS. DOVE. Your aunt Hobbs!

DOVE. Don't ask questions now, dear; when we are alone I'll _liquidate_ every thing.

MRS. DOVE. Elucidate!

DOVE. Now, you are going to begin again, love!

MRS. DOVE. No, Henry, I forgot myself; I never shall correct you more, dear.

_Enter CODDLE, capering, dressed in a suit of Nankeen; MRS. CODDLE on his arm._

COD. Here we are! here we are! Belvidera has retreated in confusion; and the conquering hero, with his only lawful wife, stands before you in all the conscious pride of innocence, and a complete suit of Nankeen.

ALL. Nankeen!

COD. Yes; no lining--no, Mrs. Coddle has heard all--and has forgiven all; she is now convinced how I was duped by my first wife; has had proof of her leaving me--of her plundering me--of her coming here merely to make a property of me, of the illegality of the marriage; and here we are united and happy again; and there stands my friend and preserver, of whom I shall ever think with gratitude.--(_Pointing to DOVE._)

DOVE. Then allow me to observe, while you were pillaging your wardrobe, your gratitude might have jogged your memory a little, respecting the condition of your preserver's clothes; this is quite the result of your own exuberance.

MRS. DOVE. My dear Henry----

COD. Hush, Mrs. Dove; allow your husband to select his own words at pleasure--yield a little to each other, 'tis the best and only way to secure domestic peace. I shall yield everything. Look at me; I that three days ago was all flannel and under-waistcoats, now intend to defy air, draughts, open-windows, corner-houses, everything; and I and Mrs. Coddle are going in search of the North Pole. Lynx, my boy, have you cleared up your mystery and satisfied your wife? that's right, now let us forgive and forget; forget all but those qualities that first induced us to marry. Mrs. Sam, what did you have me for?

MRS. COD. Because I could discover, through all your eccentricities, a natural goodness of heart.

COD. Then whenever you are inclined to be angry with me, always think of that, and I in return will ever remember the affection that first led me to seek you. Lynx, what did _you_ marry for?

LYNX. I freely confess it was for love.

COD. And you, Mrs. Lynx, married him from the same impulse?

MRS. LY. Yes, Sir.

COD. And you, Mr. and Mrs. Younghusband, married----

YOUNG. For the same reason, as our friends Mr. and Mrs. Lynx married.

MRS. Y. For the same reason precisely.

COD. And you, Mr. Dismal?

DIS. Because I was tired of living alone.

COD. And Mrs. D. was weary of the same life, no doubt?

MRS. DIS. I confess my weakness.

COD. And you, Mr. and Mrs. Dove, married--because----

MRS. DOVE. Being a widow, and accustomed to a sharer in my joys and sorrows----

DOVE. You took me into partnership, at my master's dissolution.

COD. Well, then, whenever a disagreement breaks out among you in future, recall the memory of those inducements which first led you to think of each other, and you will find it to be a wonderful help to the restoration of peace. Do you all agree to this?

ALL. Yes, yes.

COD. Then follow my example, and ratify the agreement by a hearty conjugal embrace; _I_ will give the word of command. Make ready!--(_As CODDLE puts his arm round his wife's waist, each of the husbands do the same to their wives._)--Present!--(_CODDLE takes his wife's chin between his fingers and thumb, and prepares to kiss her, all the husbands do the same._)--Fire!--(_They all kiss and embrace at the same moment._)

COD. There, this is the way that all matrimonial quarrels should end--and if _you_ are of the same opinion--(_to the audience_)--then, indeed, will our conjugal joy be complete, and our light lesson not have been read in vain. You have seen the result of perpetual jealousy, in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Lynx; of continual disputes and contradiction in that of Mr. and Mrs. Younghusband; of a want of cheerfulness and attention in Mr. and Mrs. Dismal; of the impolicy of public correction in the instance of Mrs. Dove; and the necessity of assimilating habits and tempers in the singular case of Mr. and Mrs. Coddle; and though these may not be one half the causes of quarrel between man and wife--yet, even their exposure may serve as beacon lights, to avoid the rocks of altercation when sailing on the sea of matrimony. So think of us, all ye anticipating and smiling single people; for you _must_, or _ought_, all to be married, and the sooner the better--and remember us ye already paired; and let our example prove to you that to mutual forbearance, mutual confidence, mutual habits, mutual everything, must we owe mutual happiness. And where can the _best_ of happiness be found, but in a loyal and affectionate Married Life?

_Disposition of the Characters at the fall of the Curtain._

Mr.L. Mrs.L.--Mr.Y. Mrs.Y--Mr.C. Mrs.C.--Mr.D. Mrs.D.--Mrs.Dove, Mr.Dove.

THE END.

G. Cowie, Printer, 13, Newcastle Street, Strand.

Transcriber's Note

Two sets of images of the same edition were used in this transcription. The first, digitized by the Internet Archive from a copy made available by the Robarts Library at the University of Toronto, is posted at:

archive.org/details/populardramasasp00buckuoft

The text of _Married Life_ begins at p. 386. The second, digitized by Google from a copy made available by the British Library, is posted at:

books.google.com/books?id=JdhZAAAAcAAJ

In general, the grammar and spelling in the source text have not been changed, and no attempt has been made to make the spelling consistent. For example, the contraction for "will not" is spelled both "wont" and "won't", and "secrecy" is also spelled "secresy". Emendations were made to correct for minor printing problems.

The following changes were made to the text:

- For consistency, the formatting of names in stage directions has been standardized throughout the text: small caps in the html version and all caps in the text version. The abbreviations "Mr." and "Mrs." have been transcribed consistently with a period.

- p. 11: LYNX. (_Looking off, L. H _)--They're your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Coddle--Inserted a period after "L. H".

- p. 17: MRS. LY. (_Looking off, L. H,_)--Who is this?--Changed the comma after "H" to a period.

- p. 18: YOUNG Allow me to tell Mrs. Lynx--Inserted a period after "YOUNG".

- p. 23: _They approach the L H. door_--Inserted a period after "L".

- p. 24: (_she sinks into a chair _)--Inserted a period after "_chair_".

- p. 25: YOUNG. You shall uot--(_without._)--Changed "uot" to "not".

- p. 43: "The monster to whom you are married. . ."--No attempt was made to reproduce the convention in the source text of single quotation marks printed down the left margin indicating that the text is part of a continuous quote.

- p. 44: Ah, this door--(_pointing R. H _)--leads to the canal--Inserted a period after "R. H".

- p. 52: LYNX. I am not in search of her--Changed "not" to "now". In his next line, Lynx states he is seeking his wife to explain his relationship with his niece, and thus "now" makes more sense. This change was also made in the American edition published by Harold Roorbach in 1889, a digitized copy of which is posted at:

archive.org/details/marriedlife00buck

- p. 56: Tol de rol lol.--(_Dancing._) You hear,--Inserted an em-dash after "(_Dancing._)" for consistency.

- p. 56: receive your huband and his friend.--Changed "huband" to "husband".

- p. 57: the more I reflect, the more I am imcensed against my husband.--Changed "imcensed" to "incensed".