The scene opens with a knock at the door. It's the president, the vice president, and the mayor. The president asks the mayor what's going on with his wife. The mayor says he's just been sent by his boss to observe the president's behavior. The vice president tells the president that his wife is exactly the same as one of his old friends, and that the two of them have gone through an "arranged marriage." The president says that if it weren't for the president forcing his wife to marry him, he wouldn't have married the woman he does. He says that the wife and the husband don't really love each other, but they've been forced into an arranged marriage because they're both in love with the same person. He compares the two couples to a "wily old fox" and says that they look like a "dandy old fox." The mayor points out that the family isn't based in the city, so they'd have to ask for some kind of "conditions" before the family would give him any money.