The School for Scandal

Rowley and Oliver explain that a distant relation of Charles and Joseph, named Stanley, has been asking Charles and Joseph for financial assistance. Charles promised to help, while Joseph deflected from the issue. Oliver plans to visit both nephews in disguise as Stanley to see how they react and judge their character.

Moses, a money-lender, arrives. Oliver decides to pretend to be Moses’s acquaintance when visiting Charles to see how Charles handles the issue of borrowing money. Oliver worries that he will not be able to pretend to be a money-lender or Jewish, and Peter and Moses give him tips on how to act like a loan shark. Moses and Oliver leave, and Rowley leaves to get Snake, who supposedly has information regarding a suspected affair between Charles and Lady Teazle.

Peter hopes to find out the truth about Charles from Joseph. Maria enters, and Peter tells her she should marry Joseph. Peter suspects that Maria is attracted to Charles’s extravagance, but Maria says she feels bad for Charles’s distress. Maria insists that she will never love Joseph; she laments that Peter is her guardian before leaving.

Lady Teazle enters and asks for 200 pounds. Peter reluctantly agrees, but he asks that they be a happy couple and stop fighting.