Oh, the whole situation was pathetic.

The wife shouldn't have been looking for boys on the side, but she was probably 17 and married to the 55-year-old of her parents' choosing (not that I object to 55-year-olds, but I'm sure my heart wouldn't be in the marriage, either, if I'd been pawned off for political alliances). On the other hand, I don't think I would risk my head for it. I'm told life is much more dramatic when you're 17, but I don't remember.

Matty was headed to church, but he knew he was doing wrong--he asked her if the horn wasn't Lord Arlen's (Donald's, whatever your version calls him), so he was clearly on edge. My dad would call this "natural selection"--if you're dumb enough to get caught sleeping with somebody else's wife, your genes probably won't be much missed.

Lord Arlen/Donald/etc. got kind of overexcited. Wives as possessions is certainly not my favorite approach to marriage, but I can't do much about 400-year-old social views. I always thought that the fact that he was pained enough by her infidelity to kill himself, too, was rather remarkable.

In short, I don't know. I don't really like any of them.