come to you come all desire:
But he was bound to her against his will.

PHI. What followed upon this?

PAR. A few days after,
Pamphilus, taking me aside, informs me,
"That the maid still remain'd a maid for him;
That he had hop'd, before he brought her home,
He might have borne the marriage:--but resolving
Within myself not to retain her long,
I held it neither honesty in me,
Nor of advantage to the maid herself,
That I should throw her off to scorn:--but rather
Return her to her friends, as I receiv'd her,
Chaste and inviolate."

PHI. A worthy youth,
And of great modesty!

PAR. "To make this public
Would not, I think, do well: and to return her
Upon her father's hands, no crime alleg'd,
As arrogant: but she, I hope, as soon
As she perceives she can not live with me,
Will of her own accord depart."

PHI. But tell me;
Went he meanwhile to Bacchis?

PAR. Every day.
But she, as is the way you know, perceiving
He was another's property, became
More cross and mercenary.

PHI. Troth, no wonder.

PAR. Aye, but 'twas that detach'd him chiefly from her.
For when he had examined well himself,
Bacchis, and her at home; and had compar'd
Their different manners; seeing that his bride,
After the fashion of a lib'ral mind,
Was decent, modest, patient of affronts,
And anxious to conceal the wrongs he did her;
Touch'd partly with compassion for his wife,
And partly tir'd with t'other's insolence,
He by degrees withdrew his heart from Bacchis,
Transferring it to her, whose disposition
Was so congenial to his own. Meanwhile
An old relation of the family
Dies in the isle of Imbrus. His estate
Comes by the law to them; and our old man
Dispatching thither, much against his will,
The now-fond Pamphilus, he leaves his wife
Here with his mother. The old gentleman
Retir'd into the country, and but seldom
Comes up to town.

PHI. But what is there in this
That can affect the marriage?

PAR. You shall hear
Immediately. At first, for some few days,
The women seem'd to live on friendly terms:
Till all at once the bride, forsooth, conceiv'd
A wonderful disgust to Sostrata:
And yet there was no open breach between them,
And no complaints on either side.

PHI. What then?

PAR. If Sostrata, for conversation' sake,
Went to the bride, she instantly withdrew,
Shunning her company. At length, not able
To bear it any longer, she pretends
Her mother had sent for her to assist
At some home-sacrifice. Away she went.
After