undertake such a thing again!'

ROBERTS: 'Well, I don't know--'

MRS. ROBERTS: 'Yes, yes; you must! Suppose you had got killed in
that awful struggle with those reckless wretches tugging to get away
from you! Think of the children! Why, you might have burst a
blood-vessel! Will you promise, Edward? Promise this instant, on
your bended knees, just as if you were in a court of justice!' Mrs.
Roberts's excitement mounts, and she flings herself at her husband's
feet, and pulls his face down to hers with the arm she has thrown
about his neck. 'Will you promise?'



SCENE II: MRS. CRASHAW; MR. AND MRS. ROBERTS



MRS. CRASHAW, entering unobserved: 'Promise you what, Agnes? The
man doesn't smoke NOW. What more can you ask?' She starts back
from the spectacle of Roberts's disordered dress. 'Why, what's
happened to you, Edward?'

MRS. ROBERTS, springing to her feet: 'Oh, you may well ask that,
Aunt Mary! Happened? You ought to fall down and worship him! And
you WILL when you know what he's been through. He's been robbed!'

MRS. CRASHAW: 'Robbed? What nonsense! Who robbed him? WHERE was
he robbed?'