Soon after Adriana had put her husband into confinement, a servant came to tell her that Antipholus and Dromio must have broken loose from their keepers, for that they were both walking at liberty in the next street.  On hearing this, Adriana ran out to fetch him home, taking some people with her to secure her husband again; and her sister went along with her.  When they came to the gates of a convent in their neighborhood, there they saw Antipholus and Dromio, as they thought, being again deceived by the likeness of the twin brothers.

Antipholus of Syracuse was still beset with the perplexities this likeness had brought upon him.  The chain which the goldsmith had given him was about his neck, and the goldsmith was reproaching him for denying that he had it, and refusing to pay for it, and Antipholus Was protesting that the goldsmith freely gave him the chain in the morning, and that from that hour he had never seen the goldsmith again.

And now Adriana came up to him and claimed him as her lunatic husband, who had escaped from his keepers; and the men she brought with her were going to lay violent hands on Antipholus and Dromio; but they ran into the convent, and Antipholus begged the abbess to give him shelter in her house.

And now came out the lady abbess herself to inquire into the cause of this disturbance.  She was a grave and venerable lady, and wise to judge of what she saw, and she would not too hastily give up the man who had sought protection in her house; so she strictly questioned the wife about the story she told of her husband’s madness, and she said, “What is the cause of this sudden distemper of your husband’s?  Has he lost his wealth at sea?  Or is it the death of some dear friend that has disturbed his mind?” Adriana replied that no such things as these had been the cause.  “Perhaps,” said the abbess, “he has fixed his affections on some other lady than you his wife; and that has driven him to this state.”  Adriana said she had long thought the love of some other lady was the cause of his frequent absences from home.  Now it was not his love for another, but the teasing jealousy of his wife’s temper, that often obliged Antipholus to leave his home; and (the abbess suspecting this from the vehemence of Adriana’s manner) to learn the truth, she said, “You should have reprehended him for this.”  “Why, so I did,” replied Adriana.  “Aye,” said the abbess, “but perhaps not enough.”  Adriana, willing to convince the abbess that she had said enough to Antipholus on this subject, replied, “It was the constant subject of our conversation:  in bed I would not let him sleep for speaking of it.  At table I would not let him eat for speaking of it.  When I was alone with him, I talked of nothing else; and in company I gave him frequent hints of it.  Still all my talk was how vile and bad it was in him to love any lady better than me.”