Kath.  I conjure you, Detain me not.  I will return—­

Selby.  Sweet wife,
Use thy own pleasure—­ [Exit KATHERINE.
                       but it troubles me. 
A visit of three days, as was pretended,
Spun to ten tedious weeks, and no hint given
When she will go!  I would this buxom Widow
Were a thought handsomer!  I’d fairly try
My Katherine’s constancy; make desperate love
In seeming earnest; and raise up such broils,
That she, not I, should be the first to warn
The insidious guest depart.

Reenter KATHERINE.

So soon return’d! 
What was our Widow’s will?

Kath.  A trifle, sir.

Selby.  Some toilet service—­to adjust her head, Or help to stick a pin in the right place—­

Kath.  Indeed ’twas none of these.

Selby. Or new vamp up
The tarnish’d cloak she came in.  I have seen her
Demand such service from thee, as her maid,
Twice told to do it, would blush angry-red,
And pack her few clothes up.  Poor fool! fond slave! 
And yet my dearest Kate!—­This day at least
(It is our wedding-day) we spend in freedom,
And will forget our Widow.  Philip, our coach—­
Why weeps my wife?  You know, I promised you
An airing o’er the pleasant Hampshire downs
To the blest cottage on the green hill-side,
Where first I told my love.  I wonder much,
If the crimson parlor hath exchanged its hue
For colors not so welcome.  Faded though it be,
It will not show less lovely than the tinge
Of this faint red, contending with the pale,
Where once the full-flush’d health gave to this cheek
An apt resemblance to the fruit’s warm side,
That bears my Katherine’s name.—­
                                Our carriage, Philip.

Enter a Servant.

Now, Robin, what make you here?

Servant. May it please you, The coachman has driven out with Mrs. Frampton.

Selby. He had no orders—­

Servant. None, sir, that I know of, But from the lady, who expects some letter At the next Post Town.

Selby. Go, Robin. [Exit Servant.
                                      How is this?

Kath. I came to tell you so, but fear’d your anger—­

Selby. It was ill done though of this Mistress Frampton,
This forward Widow.  But a ride’s poor loss
Imports not much.  In to your chamber, love,
Where you with music may beguile the hour,
While I am tossing over dusty tomes,
Till our most reasonable friend returns.

Kath.  I am all obedience. [Exit KATHERINE.

Selby.  Too obedient, Kate,
And to too many masters.  I can hardly
On such a day as this refrain to speak
My sense of this injurious friend, this pest,
This household evil, this close-clinging fiend,
In rough terms to my wife.  ’Death, my own servants
Controll’d above me! orders countermanded! 
What next? [Servant enters and announces the Sister.