(_peeking again, then with a start_) Death and damnation! _Chrys._ Novistine hominem? Do you recognize the gentleman? _Nic._ Novi. I do. _Chrys._ Dic sodes mihi, bellan videtur specie mulier? Kindly give me your opinion--good-looking female, eh? _Nic._ Admodum. (_angrily_) Quite so! _Chrys._ Quid illam, meretricemne esse censes? Well, do you think she’s a harlot? _Nic._ Quippini? Naturally. _Chrys._ Frustra es. You’re mistaken. _Nic._ Quis igitur obsecrost? For heaven’s sake, who is she, then? _Chrys._ Inveneris. 840 ex me quidem hodie numquam fies certior. (_again mysterious_) You’ll soon discover. But you’ll never get the information from me to-day. IV. 8. Scene 8. ENTER _Cleomachus_, APPARENTLY NOT SEEING GROUP AT DOORWAY. _Cleom._ Meamne hic Mnesilochus, Nicobuli filius, per vim ut retineat mulierem? quae haec factiost? (_blustering_) Mnesilochus, Nicobulus’s son, keep her here by force--my woman? What sort of conduct is this? _Nic._ Quis illest? Who is that? _Chrys._ Per tempus hic venit miles mihi. (_aside_) The Captain has come just in the nick of time for me. (_draws Nicobulus farther away_) _Cleom._ Non me arbitratur militem, sed mulierem, qui me meosque non queam defendere. nam neque Bellona mi umquam neque Mars creduat, ni illum exanimalem faxo, si convenero, nive exheredem fecero vitae suae. He takes me for a woman, not a soldier, a woman unable to defend myself and mine! Now never may Bellona[K] and Mars trust me more, unless I extinguish his vital spark, once I come upon him, and unless I disinherit him of his existence! [Footnote K: The goddess of war.] _Nic._ Chrysale, quis ille est qui minitatur filio? 850 (_anxiously_) Chrysalus! who’s that threatening my son? _Chrys._ Vir hic est illius mulieris quacum accubat. (_coolly_) He is the husband of that woman beside your son on the couch. _Nic._ Quid, vir? (_in terror_) What? The husband? _Chrys._ Vir, inquam. That is what I say, the husband. _Nic._ Nuptanest illa, obsecro? For heaven’s sake, is she married? _Chrys._ Scies haud multo post. You’ll see a little later. _Nic._ Oppido interii miser. Oh! This is perfectly agonizing! _Chrys._ Quid nunc? scelestus tibi videtur Chrysalus? age nunc vincito me, auscultato filio. dixin tibi ego illum inventurum te qualis sit? What now? Do you think Chrysalus is the criminal? Go ahead now, tie me up and listen to your son. Didn’t I tell you you’d find out what sort he is? _Nic._ Quid nunc ego faciam? What shall I do now? _Chrys._ Iube sis me exsolvi cito; nam ni ego exsolvor, iam manufesto hominem opprimet.