members of the court. Twelve years after she gave up her last child, the Marquis tells her to go home, which she does. The Marquis then comes to Griselda's father's house and instructs her to start preparing his palace for his wedding. Upon her arrival, she sees a young girl and boy and it is revealed that these are her children. All of this suffering was a trial to test her obedience to the Marquis. When she recounts her tale at dinner with the other women it appears in an accurate but slightly shortened form. Griselda says that she understands her husband's need for complete obedience, but it would have been nicer if he had not done what he did. She spends much of her time defending her husband's actions against Lady Nijo's accusations concerning his character. Isabella Bird Isabella Bird is the first dinner guest to arrive at Marlene's celebration. In real life, as discussed in the first act, Bird was a world traveler. The play does not mention that she wrote several books, including An English Woman In America, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, and Among the Tibetans. Her adventures took her around the world. At dinner, Bird tells everyone that she was first instructed to travel by a doctor who thought it would improve her poor health. Following this advice, she took her first trip, a sea voyage to America at age 23. For a long time, she lived with her mother and her younger sister, Henrietta Bird, whom she talks about with great affection during the dinner party. She also mentions Jim Nugent, a one-eyed mountain man who was her guide in the Rocky Mountains. In life, Nugent was in love with Bird but she ignored his advances. She once wrote in a letter to her sister "He is a man any woman might love, but no sane woman would marry." Nugent would later be found murdered. Of the dinner guests, Bird seems to have the most in common with Marlene. Bird, like Marlene, did not marry young because of her career, but later married John Bishop, who died two days before their fifth anniversary. She refers to him as "my dear husband the doctor" but, despite her love for her husband, is still disappointed with marriage itself ("I did wish marriage had seemed more of a step"). Bird gets the last words in