<P> In Paris, the King and noble lords discuss the Tuscan wars, where French nobles join on either side for their own glorification . Bertram, Parolles and Lafew arrive, and the King praises Bertram's father as more truly honorable, humble and egalitarian than the lords of his day or Bertram's . He welcomes Bertram as he would his own son . </P> <P> In Rousillon, the Clown asks permission to marry which he and the Countess debate . The Steward explains to the Countess that he has overheard Helena lamenting her love for Bertram despite their social difference . The Countess, with sympathy and seeing Helena as her own daughter, coaxes a confession out of her . Helena admits her love, but (in decorum or strategy) reserves her previously realized ambition . They agree that Helena should travel to Paris to attempt to cure the King, even wagering her life for the opportunity . </P> <P> In Paris, the King advises the Lords leaving for war, urging them to seek honor with amorous terms and warning them of the Italian women in warlike terms . Bertram, too young to go to war and in Paris to serve the King, is encouraged by Parolles and the Lords to steal away to the Tuscan war . He swears to the Lords that he will, but after they leave he admits (or reconsiders) to Parolles his intention to stay at the King's side . </P> <P> Lafew asks the King to speak with Helena who offers to cure his fatal disease with her father's most potent and safeguarded recipe . The King acknowledges her late father's renown as a doctor, but refuses to entertain false hope . Through a series of arguments--showing her confidence, appealing to his irrational or mystical side, and underlining her father's reputation--she convinces the King to let heaven work through her . She accepts the King's warning that she will wager her life on the outcome, but to even the scales, she asks that she may choose her husband from the lords at court . The King agrees . </P>

All is well if end is well meaning