[1] In it, the impoverished poet, Cape, attempts to impress Arabella's brother Cadwallader in order to get his consent to marry her.
Arabella warns Cape that her brother will have a hard time overlooking his poverty and obscure birth, and advises him to charm his wife, as a more certain way of gaining his favours.
Things escalate when the first question is “do you love me?”, and Mrs. Cadwallader misinterprets his playing along with her as Cape genuinely flirting.
Arabella is affronted to have discovered Cape seemingly courting her sister-in-law when he said he loved her, which he reassures her of, which causes Mrs. Cadwallader to reveal herself.
He scoffs at the notion that he would ever consent to mix the pedigreed blood of the Cadwalladers with the lowness of Cape's poet origins.