Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
Antipholus of Syracuse went to the inn, and found Dromio with the money
in safety there, and seeing his own Dromio, he was going again to chide
him for his free jests, when Adriana came up to him, and not doubting
but it was her husband she saw, she began to reproach him for looking
strange upon her (as well he might, never having seen this angry lady
before); and then she told him how well he loved her before they were
married, and that now he loved some other lady instead of her. 'How
comes it now, my husband,' said she, 'O how comes it that I have lost
your love?' 'Plead you to me, fair dame?' said the astonished
Antipholus. It was in vain he told her he was not her husband, and that
he had been in Ephesus but two hours; she insisted on his going home
with her, and Antipholus as last, being unable to get away, went with
her to his brother's house, and dined with Adriana and her sister, the
one calling him husband, and the other brother, he, all amazed,
thinking he must have been married to her in his sleep, or that he was
sleeping now. And Dromio, who followed them, was no less surprised, for
the cook-maid, who was his brother's wife, also claimed him for her
husband.
While Antipholus of Syracuse was dining with his brother's wife, his
brother, the real husband, returned home to dinner with his slave
Dromio; but the servants would not open the door, because their
mistress had ordered them not to admit any company; and when they
repeatedly knocked, and said they were Antipholus and Dromio, the maids
laughed at them, and said that Antipholus was at dinner with their
mistress, and Dromio was in the kitchen; and though they almost knocked
the door down, they could not gain admittance, and at last Antipholus
went away very angry, and strangely surprised at hearing a gentleman
was dining with his wife.
When Antipholus of Syracuse had finished his dinner, he was so
perplexed at the lady's still persisting in calling him husband, and at
hearing that Dromio had also been claimed by the cook-maid, that he
left the house, as soon as he could find any presence to get away; for
though he was very much pleased with Luciana, the sister, yet the
jealous-tempered Adriana he disliked very much, nor was Dromio at all
better satisfied with his fair wife in the kitchen; therefore both
master and man were glad to get away from their new wives as fast as
they could.
The moment Antipholus of Syracuse had left the house, he was met by a
goldsmith, who mistaking him, as Adriana had done, for Antipholus of
Ephesus, gave him a gold chain, calling him by his name; and when
Antipholus would have refused the chain, saying it did not belong to
him, the goldsmith replied he made it by his own orders; and went away,
leaving the chain in the hands of Antipholus, who ordered his man
Dromio to get his things on board a ship, not choosing to stay in a
place any longer, where he met with such strange adventures that he
surely thought himself bewitched.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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