_Enter_ Charles _with cards_.

_Lord G_. [_reads_]. "Dr and Mrs Plumper and Mr Flamm, to inquire for
Lady Elaine Bendore." Oho! our friend Plumper seems to know the
difference between theory and practice at any rate, and is evidently
anxious to extend the latter. [_To_ Charles.] Show them up.

_Ad_. I called upon the Plumpers this morning, and explained the whole
affair to the entire satisfaction of the worthy couple.

[Adolphus _and_ Lady Elaine _whisper apart_.

_Lord G_. I have to thank you, Dr Plumper, for the timely assistance you
rendered my daughter--first, in nearly sending her into a fit, and then
in bringing her out of it; and am glad of this opportunity of expressing
my sense of the obligation I am under to Mrs Plumper and Mr Flamm.

_Dr P_. Oh, don't mention it, my lord; I am sure I was only too gug-gug-
glad to be of any assistance to Mr Gresham by being so like him as to
frighten the young lady into a fif-fif-fit. And as for bringing her to--I
always take the sal-volatile in my pup-pup-pup-pocket on Mrs Plumper's
account.

_Ad_. And you'll accept me, Elaine, as your husband, even though I don't
abandon my political aspirations, or introduce aesthetic principles into
_Kindergartens_, or adopt the philosophy of Comte?

_El_. [_giving him her hand_]. Oh, Adolphus, you have convinced me that
the loftiest of all aspirations, the purest of all principles, the