_Agnes._ (_leaning on Captain Etheridge's shoulder_). O heavens!
_Capt. Eth._ The fellow himself has just now been trying to elbow me out of my birthright. However, I met his pretensions with the same argument as you did. Who could have put all this nonsense into his addled head so firmly, that two good cudgellings cannot beat it out?
_Capt. Mer._ Etheridge, your sister is unwell.
_Capt. Eth._ Don't be alarmed, my dear Agnes.
_Agnes._ Oh! but indeed I am--I expected this.
_Adm._ Expected this! Have you, then, heard anything, my love?
_Agnes._ Yes, I have indeed; just before my brother arrived I was told that my real name was Agnes Bargrove.
_Adm._ How very extraordinary! Who told you so?
_Agnes._ A very strange woman; but she appeared to know all about it. It has made me very unhappy ever since.
_Adm._ This must be inquired into. Where did you meet with her?
_Agnes._ In the lower wood. But Lucy can tell you more. Speak to her.
_Lady Eth._ I'm very ill. Lead me to my room.
[_Exeunt Sir Gilbert and Lady Etheridge._
_Cap. Eth._ And I must away to unravel this deep-laid plot. Mertoun, I must leave you to take care of Agnes.
_Capt. Mer._ A pleasing change, if I am not unwelcome. May I be permitted, Miss Etheridge, from a very great interest which I must ever take in the prosperity of your family--may I ask if you imagine there is any truth in this report?
_Agnes._ It is impossible for me to answer, Captain Mertoun. Why should such a report be raised without some foundation. True or not, I have ever since felt in a situation so awkward, that I fear my conduct may have appeared strange to others.
_Capt. Mer._ I must confess that your evident restraint towards me, so different from what perhaps my vanity induced me to hope, has been to me a source of wonder as well as regret. May I flatter myself that this rumour has been the occasion of an apparent caprice, which I never could have imagined that Miss Etheridge would have indulged in?
_Agnes._ You must be aware, Captain Mertoun, that I could not receive you as Agnes Etheridge until those doubts upon my parentage were removed. It would not have been honest.
_Capt. Mer._ And was this the only cause for your change of behaviour towards me, Agnes?