is true. Jane is shown consulting her Physician. The scene confirms what the opening scene had hinted: that Jane and Fitzallen have entered into a nuptial precontract, and that Jane is about to deliver Fitzallen's baby. (This arrangement, a legally-binding engagement, a "handfast" or "de praesenti betrothal," meant that the two lovers could engage in sexual contact and that their child would be legitimate — at least in some interpretations. Yet the woman in such a contract could be in an ambiguous position, especially if the full marriage ceremony did not ensue.) Jane, too shy to confess her situation to the Physician, speaks instead to his sister Anne; the two women become allies as a result. Her father enters, and introduces the rich prospective husband he has picked out for Jane: it is Chough, a crude and offensive fool. Act III: Ager and his seconds show up to the planned duel, as do the Colonel and his. Ager makes it clear that he will not fight, much to the disgust of the others. The Colonel cannot let the matter go without denouncing Ager as a "coward" — and at this real offence to his honour, Ager resumes the duel. The Colonel falls, seriously wounded. In the next scene, Jane has given birth to a healthy baby, and the child is put out to nurse. The Physician, thinking that Jane is what used to be called a "fallen woman," makes sexual advances at her, which Jane spurns. The mortified doctor threatens to expose the shame of what he thinks is her illegitimate child. The Physician's sister Anne, however, sympathises with Jane's plight. Lady Ager is almost hysterical when she learns that her son has gone to meet the Colonel on the field of honour; and she reveals that her previous confession of sexual immorality was false, designed only to keep her son out of the duel. Act IV is dominated by two comedy scenes. In the first (IV,i), Chough and his servant Trimtram are shown taking "roaring" lessons from a soldier turned con-artist, so that they can learn to be fashionable "roaring boys." In the second (IV,iv), Cough and Trimtram have set up their own roaring school, and indulge in a wild verbal fantasia of roaring talk. In between, the wounded Colonel is shown lying on what he thinks will be his deathbed; he makes his will and has it read