ACT IV.

SCENE I.--PHILAMINTE, ARMANDE.


ARM. Yes, there was no hesitation in her; she made a display of her
obedience, and her heart scarcely took time to hear the order. She
seemed less to obey the will of her father than affect to set at
defiance the will of her mother.

PHI. I will soon show her to which of us two the laws of reason
subject her wishes, and who ought to govern, mother or father, mind or
body, form or matter.

ARM. At least, they owed you the compliment of consulting you; and
that little gentleman who resolves to become your son-in-law, in spite
of yourself, behaves himself strangely.

PHI. He has not yet reached the goal of his desires. I thought him
well made, and approved of your love; but his manners were always
unpleasant to me. He knows that I write a little, thank heaven, and
yet he has never desired me to read anything to him.




SCENE II--ARMANDE, PHILAMINTE, CLITANDRE (_entering softly and
listening unseen_).

ARM. If I were you, I would not allow him to become Henriette's