ISABEL. I give you joy most unfeignedly. (_Pulls off her veil._).
COUNTESS. It is a _woman_.
ANTONIO. Aye, that it is--Madam, let me bid you welcome to the castle.
(_Goes and salutes her._)
COUNTESS. (_To the Marquis._) Why, what are you--(_After trembling as if much terrified_) an"t _you_ a woman?
ISABEL. Countess, I knew you never would have consented to have seen the Marquis, had he been introduced into the house as a man, therefore I formed this stratagem, unknown to him, thus to bring you together.
MARQUIS. (_To the Countess._) Do not droop, my dearest wife.
COUNTESS. And are you really the Marquis? What a strange blunder have I made!
MARQUIS. I am the Marquis--and it shall be my future care to banish for ever from your memory, the recollection of that marriage which has been the source of so much woe to you.
ANTONIO. Donna Isabella, we are all infinitely obliged to you for this stratagem, by which you have induced the Countess, innocently to break a vow, which she could not have kept without drawing upon herself both ridicule and melancholy--My dear Niece, depend upon it, there is but _one_ vow a woman is authorized to take.
COUNTESS. And what vow is that _one_ Uncle?
ANTONIO. A vow to LOVE, HONOUR and OBEY. [_Exeunt omnes._
THE END.