Then, to the amazement of Master Page and his wife, Slender and Doctor Caius both appeared, full of blustering wrath at the trick which had been played upon them by saucy Mistress Anne, and which they had not discovered until they had reached Eton; and whilst the disappointed suitors were bewailing their loss, the two arch-plotters, Fenton and Anne, arrived also on the scene, and confessing their successful ruse, sued for pardon.
This was readily granted by the parents, who good-humouredly admitted that they had been outwitted by these determined lovers; and Page remarked:
Well, what remedy? Fenton, Heaven give thee joy!
What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd!
And Falstaff merrily added:
When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chased!
But Ford said:
In love, the heavens themselves do guide the State;
Money buys land, and wives are sold by fate!
After this, the whole party trooped back to Master Page's house, to enjoy a wedding feast; and in deep draughts of his favourite beverage, Falstaff quickly drowned all remembrance of the teasing he had received at the hands of the Merry Wives of Windsor.