between themselves, just as they please; since neither my son nor he
pay any regard to me; they care but little for what I say. I'll carry
the quarrel to my wife, by whose planning all these things have been
brought about, and against her I will vent all the vexation that I
feel.

ACT THE FOURTH.

SCENE I.

_Enter MYRRHINA, from her house._

MYR. I am undone! What am I to do? which way turn myself? In my
wretchedness, what answer am I to give to my husband? For he seems to
have heard the voice of the child when crying, so suddenly did he rush
in to my daughter without saying a word. What if he comes to know that
she has been delivered? for what reason I am to say I kept it
concealed, upon my faith I do not know. But there's a noise at the
door; I believe it is himself coming out to me: I'm utterly undone!

SCENE II.

_Enter PHIDIPPUS, from the house._

PHID. (_to himself._) My wife, when she saw me going to my daughter,
betook herself out of the house: and look, there she is. (_Addressing
her._) What have you to say, Myrrhina? Hark you! to you I speak.

MYR. What, to me, my husband?

PHID. Am I your husband? Do you consider me a husband, or a man, in
fact? For, woman, if I had ever appeared to you to be either of these,
I should not in this way have been held in derision by your doings.

MYR. By what {doings}?

PHID. Do you ask the question? Is not your daughter brought to bed?
Eh, are you silent? By whom?

MYR. Is it proper for a father to be asking such a question? Oh,
shocking! By whom do you think, pray, except by him to whom she was
given in marriage?

PHID. I believe it; nor indeed is it for a father to think otherwise.
But I wonder much what the reason can be for which you so very much
wish all of us to be in ignorance of the truth, especially when she
has been delivered properly, and at the right time.[50] That you
should be of a mind so perverse as to prefer that the child should
perish, through which you might be sure that hereafter there would be
a friendship more lasting between us, rather than that, at the expense
of your feelings, his wife should continue with him! I supposed this
to be their fault, while {in reality} it lies with you.

MYR. I am an unhappy creature!

PHID. I wish I were sure that so it was; but now it recurs to my mind
what you once said about this matter, when we accepted him as {our}
son-in-law. For you declared that you could not endure your daughter