butler, Felice, who meanwhile has gone off to a milliner's with a scrap of straw as a sample to look for a hat of the same kind, comes back empty-handed. Anaide, bursting into tears, confesses that she cannot go home without the hat, for it was given to her by a "jealous and very brutal" husband. Fadinard, who is expected for his wedding, protests in vain: Anaide faints, Emilio threatens a duel. They refuse to budge from the house until Fadinard, even though he has to go and get married, comes back with a hat exactly like Anaide's. Act 2 Intermezzo: A milliner's shop Fadinard, having visited countless shops without success, enters with the sample of straw. Nothing doing here either: the only straw hat like it was sold a few days before to the highly fashionable Baroness of Champigny. Fadinard sets off for the Baroness' villa in Passy with all the wedding procession trailing behind. The Baronessa of Champigny's villa A gala occasion in the luxurious home of the Baroness: flowers, tables laid for a feast, elegance, for a reception in honor of the distinguished Italian violinist Minardi, who is going to play. Fadinard, who enters shyly to ask for the hat, is mistaken by the Baroness for the famous violinist. Overcoming his initial embarrassment, Fadinard manages to pretend he is Minardi, and asks for her hat as a keepsake. Meanwhile, his father-in-law Nonancourt and the wedding guests have followed Fadinard in secret and enter the adjoining dining-room, convinced they are at the wedding banquet. The Baroness returns with a black hat. Fadinard heatedly flies off the handle and menacingly demands the florentine straw hat. Frightened, the Baroness says she has given it as a present to her god-daughter, Madame Beaupertuis. At this point, the wedding guests, who have gorged and caroused, burst gaily into the room to everyone's astonishment, as Elena, slightly tipsy, lifts her glass in a toast to the groom. Amazement, panic, confusion. Minardi, the real violinist, arrives. Fadinard, having gotten the address where the unattainable hat is to be found, takes advantage of the confusion to carry off the whole wedding party with him, as the Baroness swoons and her guests cry "the police!". Act 3 Beaupertuis's house Early in the evening, Beaupertuis is annoyed that his wife has not returned from a lengthy trip to the shops and suspects that she is having an