MRS. FRAMPTON He neither tore His wife's locks nor his own; but wisely weighing His own offence with her's in equal poise, And woman's weakness 'gainst the strength of man, Came to a calm and witty compromise. He coolly took his gay-faced widow home, Made her his second wife; and still the first Lost few or none of her prerogatives. The servants call'd her mistress still; she kept The keys, and had the total ordering Of the house affairs; and, some slight toys excepted, Was all a moderate wife would wish to be. SELBY A tale full of dramatic incident!-- And if a man should put it in a play, How should he name the parties? MRS. FRAMPTON The man's name Through time I have forgot--the widow's too;-- But his first wife's first name, her maiden one, Was--not unlike to that your Katherine bore, Before she took the honour'd style of Selby. SELBY A dangerous meaning in your riddle lurks. One knot is yet unsolved; that told, this strange And most mysterious drama ends. The name Of that first husband--- _Enter Lucy._ MRS. FRAMPTON Sir, your pardon-- The allegory fits your private ear. Some half hour hence, in the garden's secret walk, We shall have leisure. [_Exit._] SELBY Sister, whence come you? LUCY From your poor Katherine's chamber, where she droops In sad presageful thoughts, and sighs, and weeps, And seems to pray by turns. At times she looks As she would pour her secret in my bosom--- Then starts, as I have seen her, at the mention Of some immodest act. At her request I left her on her knees. SELBY The fittest posture; For great has been her fault to Heaven and me. She married me, with a first husband living, Or not known not to be so, which, in the judgment Of any but indifferent honesty, Must be esteem'd the same. The shallow Widow, Caught by my art, under a riddling veil Too thin to hide her meaning, hath confess'd all. Your coming in broke off the conference, When she was ripe to tell the fatal _name_, That seals my wedded doom. LUCY Was she so forward To pour her hateful meanings in your ear At the first hint? SELBY Her newly flatter'd hopes Array'd themselves at first in forms of doubt; And with a female caution she stood off Awhile, to read the meaning of my suit, Which with such honest seeming I enforced, That her cold scruples soon gave way; and now She rests prepared, as mistress, or as wife, To seize the place of her betrayed friend-- My much offending, but more suffering, Katherine.