In the meanwhile the ruthless marquis decided to test Griselda’s patience to the utmost. He told her that he had acquired a Papal dispensation to remarry as his subjects considered Griselda to be of a very low birth and wanted him to marry a woman of a higher birth. He ordered her to go back to her father’s house and to take her dowry along. Griselda firmly replied that she had always been his humble servant and would willingly return to her father if he so desired. She recalls that she had not brought any dowry and had come dressed in rags. She then strips away all the rich clothes, jewels and the wedding ring and requests to be allowed to wear an old smock to hide her nudity. She walked barefoot to her father’s house. However she remained a paragon of wifely patience and did not weep or give any other hint of her distress.