which her son serves has returned to England, much to her delight. Russell has a double connection to the soldiers: Captain Ager is his nephew, and the troop's Colonel is a kinsman to Fitzallen. When the Colonel and Captain visit with their friends, a quarrel quickly develops among the officers as to the relative merits of the Colonel and the Captain. Russell breaks up the first brawl between subordinates, but another soon erupts between the Colonel and Captain, on the question of comparative worth: the Captain's friends judge the two men of equal worth, though to the hot-headed Colonel, wrapped in the pride of his superior rank, this is insupportable. Russell intervenes again, and prevails on the soldiers to turn their swords over to him; the Colonel, wary of spoiling Fitzallen's marital prospects, agrees, as does the more level-headed Captain Ager. Disarming the soldiers is an essential step in Russell's plan for frustrating Fitzallen and Jane's marriage: two sergeants enter to arrest Fitzallen for £1000 in unpaid debts, owed to "three creditors, Master Leech, Master Swallow, and Master Bonesuck." Fitzallen protests that he owes no such debts, and it becomes clear that Russell has staged a false arrest to clear the way for a wealthy suitor of his own choosing. The Colonel and the soldiers are outraged, but without their swords they cannot resist the armed sergeants. Fitzallen is taken to prison. The hot-headed Colonel vents his anger at Russell and his relations — and in the process he gives Captain Ager the ultimate insult, calling him a "son of a whore." The die is cast: the two men will meet on the field of honour. Act II begins with Captain Ager solus, brooding on the insult to his mother. He believes his mother is honourable — but the belief is not quite as strong as it should be. When his mother enters, Ager gives her an oblique and misleading account of the insult; when he mentions the offending phrase, Lady Ager is outraged and slaps his face. Her reaction emboldens her son, and he explains the true circumstances of the matter. But when it becomes clear to Lady Ager that her son will fight a duel with the Colonel, she confesses a mysterious past indiscretion. Her horrified son now finds that his sense of honour will not allow him to go through with the duel, since the Colonel's insult