suggests that she pay Hardquanonne for his silence. Barkilphedro shows the letter to Queen Anne, and his men take Hardquanonne to Chatham Prison to be tortured. The Queen sends the Duchess's fiancé, Lord Dirry-Moir, to retrieve her after she shirks her duties at the royal court. Dirry-Moir finds the Duchess shamelessly cavorting with the local men at the Southwark Fair. A brawl breaks out, and she leaves for Kensington Palace. From a balcony, the Duchess watches Gwynplaine's act at the fair, and finds herself both sexually aroused and repelled by his disfigurement. A messenger gives him a note arranging a rendezvous at midnight, and while conflicted over his feelings for Dea, he sneaks out of the caravan that night. His departure is heard by a worried and heartbroken Dea, who finds the letter. Gwynplaine is ushered inside the Duchess's estate, where she attempts to seduce him, but is interrupted by the delivery of a pronouncement informing her of Gwynplaine's noble lineage and the Queen's decree that she marry Gwynplaine, thereby legitimizing her occupation of the late Lord Clancharlie's estates, with her engagement to Dirry-Moir already having been annulled. The Duchess begins to laugh, causing Gwynplaine to rush away, devastated at again being made into a mockery. Gwynplaine returns home and extracts the Duchess's letter clutched in Dea's hands as she sleeps. He tears the note into pieces before breaking down into tears, overcome by guilt. Dea wakes up, relieved to find he has returned. He guides her hands to feel his smile for the first time, and she reassures him that God made her sightless so she could see only the real Gwynplaine. Guards arrive to arrest Gwynplaine, and he is taken to Chatham Prison. When the guards later march out of the prison bearing Hardquanonne's coffin, Ursus mistakenly concludes that Gwynplaine has been executed. Barkilphedro arrives to notify Ursus he has been banished from England, and cruelly lies to him that the "laughing mountebank" is dead. Hearing this from the stage, Dea faints in shock. Gwynplaine is freed from prison and is to be made a Peer in the House of Lords. The next day, he is brought to London for his introduction ceremony by Barkilphedro at the same time as Ursus and Dea head for the Thames docks to leave the country. Their vehicle carriage wheels lock and Ursus's pet wolf, Homo, leads Dea to the House of