Not long after this, Angelo and his merchant creditor met Antipholus of Syracuse, who this time, instead of denying he had had the chain, at once admitted it. Angelo reproached him with having denied it before. Antipholus declared he had never done so. The merchant said they had heard him with their own ears. The end of the matter was that they all got so angry that they drew their swords and began to fight. Adriana, coming up at that moment, thought it was her husband who had got free from his bondage, and called to the others not to hurt him, he was mad, but to seize him and take away his sword. Antipholus of Syracuse, seeing that he was likely to be overpowered, slipped with Dromio for refuge inside a Priory, near which they were standing. The Abbess refused to give them up, as they had taken sanctuary there, though Adriana vehemently demanded her husband. Luciana advised her sister to appeal to the Duke, and as it happened, the Duke himself now approached, on his way to attend the execution of the luckless Ægeon, who up to the present had not been able to obtain the money for his ransom. Adriana told her story to the Duke, who thereupon commanded that the Lady Abbess should be summoned to his presence. At that instant a servant came rushing up in terror to Adriana saying that his master and Dromio had got loose, and had tied up the doctor, and were beating the servants. “Peace, fool! Your master and his man are here,” said Adriana. “What you report to us is false.” But the speedy appearance of Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus showed that the servant had spoken truth. “Unless the fear of death makes me doat,” said Ægeon, “I see my son Antipholus and Dromio.” [Illustration: “I see my son Antipholus.”] There was still some further confusion, for this Antipholus had no knowledge of his father. But when Antipholus of Syracuse came from the Priory, and the two sets of brothers stood face to face, matters were soon happily cleared up. To add to the general joy, the good Abbess turned out to be no other than the wife of Ægeon. There was no difficulty now about getting ransom for the merchant, and, in fact, the Duke pardoned his life without accepting the ducats which Antipholus of Ephesus offered. Antipholus of Syracuse could now pay his court without rebuke to the lady who had so charmed his fancy; and Adriana, to whom the Duke had spoken some plain words, promised to be a less shrewish wife for the future. [Illustration: “I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth.”] Among the gay company none were merrier or more delighted than the two Dromios. They embraced vigorously, and gazed at each other with admiration. “Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother,” said Dromio of Ephesus. “I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth. Will you walk in to see their gossiping?” But each brother was too modest to walk into the house first, so they settled the difficulty by going in hand in hand, not one before the other. [Illustration: THE END]