Young Phædria adds to Geta's troubles by coming to beg him to extract from his uncle Demipho, by some contrivance or other, the sum needful for the purchase of his dear music-girl from her master—only a poor hundred guineas. "She's a very dear bargain," remarks the old servitor. Phædria insists, of course, that she is cheap at any price; and Geta promises to do his best to get the money.
The return of Phædria's father—Chremes, the elder of the two brothers—from the island of Lemnos, threatens to complicate matters: but it turns out that he brings with him the key to at least the great difficulty. He has been to the island on some private business, the nature of which is known to his brother Demipho, but which is kept a strict secret from his wife Nausistrata, of whom he stands in considerable awe. The secret is partly disclosed in the scene between the two brothers on his return. Chremes had contracted, in his younger and more imprudent days, while visiting Lemnos, a private marriage (under another name) with a person in that island, the issue of which was a daughter. He had broken off this connection for some years; but the object of this last voyage had been to make some inquiries about this duplicate family. He has formed a plan, with his brother's approval, to marry this unacknowledged daughter, now grown up to womanhood, to her cousin Antipho; and is therefore as anxious as his brother to get this present unfortunate marriage, which they both look upon as contracted under false pretences,
fin qu'au commencement;" and in 'M. de Pourceaugnac,' act ii. sc. 13, where the "Deux Avocats" chant their opinions.
