said, he would marry this unknown lady, even though she were an
Ethiop: but his heart was very sorrowful, and he passed that night in
tears, and in remorseful grief, at the tomb which Leonato had erected
for Hero.

When the morning came, the prince accompanied Claudio to the
church, where the good friar, and Leonato and his niece, were already
assembled, to celebrate a second nuptial; and Leonato presented to
Claudio his promised bride; and she wore a mask, that Claudio might
not discover her face. And Claudio said to the lady in the mask: 'Give
me your hand, before this holy friar; I am your husband, if you will
marry me.' 'And when I lived I was your other wife,' said this unknown
lady; and, taking off her mask, she proved to be no niece (as was
pretended), but Leonato's very daughter, the lady Hero herself. We
may be sure that this proved a most agreeable surprise to Claudio,
who thought her dead, so that he could scarcely for joy believe his
eyes; and the prince, who was equally amazed at what he saw,
exclaimed: 'Is not this Hero, Hero that was dead?' Leonato replied:
'She died, my lord, but while her slander lived.' The friar promised
them an explanation of this seeming miracle, after the ceremony was
ended; and was proceeding to marry them, when he was interrupted
by Benedick, who desired to be married at the same time to Beatrice.
Beatrice making some demur to this match, and Benedick challenging
her with her love for him, which he had learned from Hero, a pleasant
explanation took place; and they found they had both been tricked
into a belief of love, which had never existed, and had become lovers
in truth by the power of a false jest: but the affection, which a merry
invention had cheated them into, was grown too powerful to be
shaken by a serious explanation; and since Benedick proposed to
marry, he was resolved to think nothing to the purpose that the world