DUMAINE.
And what to me, my love? But what to me?
A wife?

KATHARINE.
A beard, fair health, and honesty;
With threefold love I wish you all these three.

DUMAINE.
O, shall I say, “I thank you, gentle wife”?

KATHARINE.
No so, my lord. A twelvemonth and a day
I’ll mark no words that smooth-faced wooers say.
Come when the King doth to my lady come;
Then, if I have much love, I’ll give you some.

DUMAINE.
I’ll serve thee true and faithfully till then.

KATHARINE.
Yet swear not, lest ye be forsworn again.

[They converse apart]

LONGAVILLE.
What says Maria?

MARIA.
At the twelvemonth’s end
I’ll change my black gown for a faithful friend.

LONGAVILLE.
I’ll stay with patience, but the time is long.