HIL. Well, father, is there news for me...

HIL. Well, father, is there news for me at last?

HILD. King Gama is in sight, but much I fear

With no Princess!

HIL. Alas, my liege, I’ve heard,

That Princess Ida has forsworn the world,

And, with a band of women, shut herself

Within a lonely country house, and there

Devotes herself to stern philosophies!

HILD. Then I should say the loss of such a wife

Is one to which a reasonable man

Would easily be reconciled.

HIL. Oh, no!

Or I am not a reasonable man.

She is my wife – has been for twenty years!

(Holding glass) I think I see her now.

HILD. Ha! Let me look!

HIL. In my mind’s eye, I mean – a blushing bride

All bib and tucker, frill and furbelow!

How exquisite she looked as she was borne,

Recumbent, in her foster-mother’s arms!

How the bride wept – nor would be comforted

Until the hireling mother-for-the-nonce

Administered refreshment in the vestry.

And I remember feeling much annoyed

That she should weep at marrying with me.

But then I thought, “These brides are all alike.

You cry at marrying me? How much more cause

You’d have to cry if it were broken off!”

These were my thoughts; I kept them to myself,

For at that age I had not learnt to speak.