Scene II.

Love for Love

by William Congreve

[To them] ANGELICA with JENNY.

ANGELICA
Mr Scandal, I suppose you don't think it a novelty
to see a woman visit a man at his own lodgings in a morning?

SCANDAL
Not upon a kind occasion, madam. But when a lady
comes tyrannically to insult a ruined lover, and make manifest the
cruel triumphs of her beauty, the barbarity of it something surprises
me.

ANGELICA
I don't like raillery from a serious face. Pray
tell me what is the matter?

JEREMY
No strange matter, madam; my master's mad, that's
all. I suppose your ladyship has thought him so a great while.

ANGELICA
How d'ye mean, mad?

JEREMY
Why, faith, madam, he's mad for want of his wits,
just as he was poor for want of money; his head is e'en as light as
his pockets, and anybody that has a mind to a bad bargain can't do
better than to beg him for his estate.

ANGELICA
If you speak truth, your endeavouring at wit is
very unseasonable.

SCANDAL
She's concerned, and loves him. [Aside.]

ANGELICA
Mr Scandal, you can't think me guilty of so much
inhumanity as not to be concerned for a man I must own myself obliged
to? Pray tell me truth.

SCANDAL
Faith, madam, I wish telling a lie would mend the
matter. But this is no new effect of an unsuccessful passion.

ANGELICA
[Aside.] I know not what to think. Yet I should
be vexed to have a trick put upon me. May I not see him?

SCANDAL
I'm afraid the physician is not willing you should
see him yet. Jeremy, go in and enquire.