means of getting you out of trouble; for I cannot bear to see kind
fathers a prey to grief without feeling sad about it, and, besides, I
have at all times had the greatest regard for you.

ARG. I am much obliged to you.

SCA. Then you must know that I went to the brother of the young girl
whom your son has married. He is one of those fire-eaters, one of
those men all sword-thrusts, who speak of nothing but fighting, and
who think no more of killing a man than of swallowing a glass of
wine. I got him to speak of this marriage; I showed him how easy it
would be to have it broken off, because of the violence used towards
your son. I spoke to him of your prerogatives as father, and of the
weight which your rights, your money, and your friends would have
with justice. I managed him so that at last he lent a ready ear to
the propositions I made to him of arranging the matter amicably for a
sum of money. In short, he will give his consent to the marriage
being cancelled, provided you pay him well.

ARG. And how much did he ask?

SCA. Oh! at first things utterly out of the question.

ARG. But what?

SCA. Things utterly extravagant.

ARG. But what?

SCA. He spoke of no less than five or six hundred pistoles.