The Colonel’s wife is satisfied, because she knows that the Count is well-off and of good character from her earlier investigations, but the Marquise herself is visibly upset and says that she was willing to marry "a vicious man" (""einen Lasterhaften"") but not a devil. Her parents believe that she is crazy and agree that she should marry the Count, as per her earlier agreement. She eventually agrees, unhappily, and the Colonel and the Count draw up a contract which says that the Count is entitled to none of the rights of marriage yet bound by all of its duties. They are married the following day. Their son is born and the Count makes the boy a gift of 20,000 rubles and makes the Marquise (now the Countess) his sole heir. Eventually, the Countess comes to be happy with him and they celebrate a second marriage, a much happier one.