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diff --git a/790-0.txt b/790-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..afd1d30 --- /dev/null +++ b/790-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3292 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lady Windermere’s Fan, by Oscar Wilde + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Lady Windermere’s Fan + +Author: Oscar Wilde + +Release Date: January 25, 1997 [eBook #790] +[Most recently updated: June 7, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: David Price + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN *** + + + + + LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN + + + A PLAY + ABOUT A GOOD WOMAN + + BY + + OSCAR WILDE + + * * * * * + + METHUEN & CO. LTD. + 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. + LONDON + + _Sixteenth Edition_ + +_First Published_ _1893_ +_First Issued by Methuen & Co. Ltd._ (_Limited Editions on _1908_ +Hand-made Paper and Japanese Vellum_) _February_ +_Third Edition_ (_F’cap_ 8_vo_, 5_s._ _net_) _September_ _1909_ +_Fourth Edition_ (5_s._ _net_) _June_ _1910_ +_Fifth Edition_ (_F’cap_ 8_vo_, 1_s._ _net_) _November 3rd_ _1911_ +_Sixth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _November_ _1911_ +_Eighth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1912_, _Ninth and Tenth +Editions_ (1_s._ _net_) _1913_, _Eleventh Edition_ (1_s._ +_net_) _1914_, _Twelfth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1915_, +_Thirteenth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1916_, _Fourteenth and +Fifteenth Edition_ (1_s._ _net_) _1917_ +_Sixteenth Edition_ (5_s._ _net_) _1917_ + +_The literary and dramatic rights of_ “_Lady Windermere’s Fan_” _belong +to Sir George Alexander_, _by arrangement with whom this play is included +in this edition_. _The acting version_ (_Samuel French_) _does not +contain the complete text_. + + * * * * * + + TO + THE DEAR MEMORY + OF + ROBERT EARL OF LYTTON + IN AFFECTION + AND + ADMIRATION + + * * * * * + + + + +THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY + + +Lord Windermere + +Lord Darlington + +Lord Augustus Lorton + +Mr. Dumby + +Mr. Cecil Graham + +Mr. Hopper + +Parker, Butler + + * * * * * + +Lady Windermere + +The Duchess of Berwick + +Lady Agatha Carlisle + +Lady Plymdale + +Lady Stutfield + +Lady Jedburgh + +Mrs. Cowper-Cowper + +Mrs. Erlynne + +Rosalie, Maid + + + + +THE SCENES OF THE PLAY + +ACT I. _Morning-room in Lord Windermere’s + house_. +ACT II. _Drawing-room in Lord Windermere’s + house_. +ACT III. _Lord Darlington’s rooms_. +ACT IV. _Same as Act I._ +TIME: _The Present_. +PLACE: _London_. + +_The action of the play takes place within twenty-four hours_, _beginning +on a Tuesday afternoon at five o’clock_, _and ending the next day at_ +1.30 _p.m._ + + + + +LONDON: ST. JAMES’S THEATRE + + + _Lessee and Manager_: _Mr. George Alexander_ + _February_ 22_nd_, 1892. + +LORD WINDERMERE _Mr. George Alexander_. +LORD DARLINGTON _Mr. Nutcombe Gould_. +LORD AUGUSTUS LORTON _Mr. H. H. Vincent_. +MR. CECIL GRAHAM _Mr. Ben Webster_. +MR. DUMBY _Mr. Vane-Tempest_. +MR. HOPPER _Mr. Alfred Holles_. +PARKER (_Butler_) _Mr. V. Sansbury_. +LADY WINDERMERE _Miss Lily Hanbury_. +THE DUCHESS OF BERWICK _Miss Fanny Coleman_. +LADY AGATHA CARLISLE _Miss Laura Graves_. +LADY PLYMDALE _Miss Granville_. +LADY JEDBURGH _Miss B. Page_. +LADY STUTFIELD _Miss Madge Girdlestone_. +MRS. COWPER-COWPER _Miss A. de Winton_. +MRS. ERLYNNE _Miss Marion Terry_. +ROSALIE (_Maid_) _Miss Winifred Dolan_. + + + + +FIRST ACT + + + SCENE + +_Morning-room of Lord Windermere’s house in Carlton House Terrace_. +_Doors C. and R. Bureau with books and papers R._ _Sofa with small +tea-table L._ _Window opening on to terrace L._ _Table R._ + +[LADY WINDERMERE _is at table R._, _arranging roses in a blue bowl_.] + +[_Enter_ PARKER.] + +PARKER. Is your ladyship at home this afternoon? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes—who has called? + +PARKER. Lord Darlington, my lady. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Hesitates for a moment_.] Show him up—and I’m at +home to any one who calls. + +PARKER. Yes, my lady. + + [_Exit C._] + +LADY WINDERMERE. It’s best for me to see him before to-night. I’m glad +he’s come. + +[_Enter_ PARKER _C._] + +PARKER. Lord Darlington, + +[_Enter_ LORD DARLINGTON _C._] + + [_Exit_ PARKER.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. How do you do, Lady Windermere? + +LADY WINDERMERE. How do you do, Lord Darlington? No, I can’t shake +hands with you. My hands are all wet with these roses. Aren’t they +lovely? They came up from Selby this morning. + +LORD DARLINGTON. They are quite perfect. [_Sees a fan lying on the +table_.] And what a wonderful fan! May I look at it? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Do. Pretty, isn’t it! It’s got my name on it, and +everything. I have only just seen it myself. It’s my husband’s birthday +present to me. You know to-day is my birthday? + +LORD DARLINGTON. No? Is it really? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, I’m of age to-day. Quite an important day in my +life, isn’t it? That is why I am giving this party to-night. Do sit +down. [_Still arranging flowers_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Sitting down_.] I wish I had known it was your +birthday, Lady Windermere. I would have covered the whole street in +front of your house with flowers for you to walk on. They are made for +you. + + [_A short pause_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night at the +Foreign Office. I am afraid you are going to annoy me again. + +LORD DARLINGTON. I, Lady Windermere? + +[_Enter_ PARKER _and_ FOOTMAN _C._, _with tray and tea things_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Put it there, Parker. That will do. [_Wipes her hands +with her pocket-handkerchief_, _goes to tea-table_, _and sits down_.] +Won’t you come over, Lord Darlington? + + [_Exit_ PARKER _C._] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Takes chair and goes across L.C._] I am quite +miserable, Lady Windermere. You must tell me what I did. [_Sits down at +table L._] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Well, you kept paying me elaborate compliments the +whole evening. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Smiling_.] Ah, nowadays we are all of us so hard up, +that the only pleasant things to pay _are_ compliments. They’re the only +things we _can_ pay. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Shaking her head_.] No, I am talking very seriously. +You mustn’t laugh, I am quite serious. I don’t like compliments, and I +don’t see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when +he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn’t mean. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Ah, but I did mean them. [_Takes tea which she offers +him_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Gravely_.] I hope not. I should be sorry to have to +quarrel with you, Lord Darlington. I like you very much, you know that. +But I shouldn’t like you at all if I thought you were what most other men +are. Believe me, you are better than most other men, and I sometimes +think you pretend to be worse. + +LORD DARLINGTON. We all have our little vanities, Lady Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why do you make that your special one? [_Still seated +at table L._] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Still seated L.C._] Oh, nowadays so many conceited +people go about Society pretending to be good, that I think it shows +rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad. Besides, +there is this to be said. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you +very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the +astounding stupidity of optimism. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Don’t you _want_ the world to take you seriously then, +Lord Darlington? + +LORD DARLINGTON. No, not the world. Who are the people the world takes +seriously? All the dull people one can think of, from the Bishops down +to the bores. I should like _you_ to take me very seriously, Lady +Windermere, _you_ more than any one else in life. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why—why me? + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_After a slight hesitation_.] Because I think we +might be great friends. Let us be great friends. You may want a friend +some day. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why do you say that? + +LORD DARLINGTON. Oh!—we all want friends at times. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I think we’re very good friends already, Lord +Darlington. We can always remain so as long as you don’t— + +LORD DARLINGTON. Don’t what? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Don’t spoil it by saying extravagant silly things to +me. You think I am a Puritan, I suppose? Well, I have something of the +Puritan in me. I was brought up like that. I am glad of it. My mother +died when I was a mere child. I lived always with Lady Julia, my +father’s elder sister, you know. She was stern to me, but she taught me +what the world is forgetting, the difference that there is between what +is right and what is wrong. _She_ allowed of no compromise. _I_ allow +of none. + +LORD DARLINGTON. My dear Lady Windermere! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Leaning back on the sofa_.] You look on me as being +behind the age.—Well, I am! I should be sorry to be on the same level as +an age like this. + +LORD DARLINGTON. You think the age very bad? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. Nowadays people seem to look on life as a +speculation. It is not a speculation. It is a sacrament. Its ideal is +Love. Its purification is sacrifice. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Smiling_.] Oh, anything is better than being +sacrificed! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Leaning forward_.] Don’t say that. + +LORD DARLINGTON. I do say it. I feel it—I know it. + +[_Enter_ PARKER _C._] + +PARKER. The men want to know if they are to put the carpets on the +terrace for to-night, my lady? + +LADY WINDERMERE. You don’t think it will rain, Lord Darlington, do you? + +LORD DARLINGTON. I won’t hear of its raining on your birthday! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Tell them to do it at once, Parker. + + [_Exit_ PARKER _C._] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Still seated_.] Do you think then—of course I am +only putting an imaginary instance—do you think that in the case of a +young married couple, say about two years married, if the husband +suddenly becomes the intimate friend of a woman of—well, more than +doubtful character—is always calling upon her, lunching with her, and +probably paying her bills—do you think that the wife should not console +herself? + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Frowning_.] Console herself? + +LORD DARLINGTON. Yes, I think she should—I think she has the right. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Because the husband is vile—should the wife be vile +also? + +LORD DARLINGTON. Vileness is a terrible word, Lady Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. It is a terrible thing, Lord Darlington. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Do you know I am afraid that good people do a great +deal of harm in this world. Certainly the greatest harm they do is that +they make badness of such extraordinary importance. It is absurd to +divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. +I take the side of the charming, and you, Lady Windermere, can’t help +belonging to them. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Now, Lord Darlington. [_Rising and crossing R._, +_front of him_.] Don’t stir, I am merely going to finish my flowers. +[_Goes to table R.C._] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Rising and moving chair_.] And I must say I think +you are very hard on modern life, Lady Windermere. Of course there is +much against it, I admit. Most women, for instance, nowadays, are rather +mercenary. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Don’t talk about such people. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Well then, setting aside mercenary people, who, of +course, are dreadful, do you think seriously that women who have +committed what the world calls a fault should never be forgiven? + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Standing at table_.] I think they should never be +forgiven. + +LORD DARLINGTON. And men? Do you think that there should be the same +laws for men as there are for women? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Certainly! + +LORD DARLINGTON. I think life too complex a thing to be settled by these +hard and fast rules. + +LADY WINDERMERE. If we had ‘these hard and fast rules,’ we should find +life much more simple. + +LORD DARLINGTON. You allow of no exceptions? + +LADY WINDERMERE. None! + +LORD DARLINGTON. Ah, what a fascinating Puritan you are, Lady +Windermere! + +LADY WINDERMERE. The adjective was unnecessary, Lord Darlington. + +LORD DARLINGTON. I couldn’t help it. I can resist everything except +temptation. + +LADY WINDERMERE. You have the modern affectation of weakness. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Looking at her_.] It’s only an affectation, Lady +Windermere. + +[_Enter_ PARKER _C._] + +PARKER. The Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle. + +[_Enter the_ DUCHESS OF BERWICK and LADY AGATHA CARLISLE _C._] + + [_Exit_ PARKER _C._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Coming down C._, _and shaking hands_.] Dear +Margaret, I am so pleased to see you. You remember Agatha, don’t you? +[_Crossing L.C._] How do you do, Lord Darlington? I won’t let you know +my daughter, you are far too wicked. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Don’t say that, Duchess. As a wicked man I am a +complete failure. Why, there are lots of people who say I have never +really done anything wrong in the whole course of my life. Of course +they only say it behind my back. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Isn’t he dreadful? Agatha, this is Lord Darlington. +Mind you don’t believe a word he says. [LORD DARLINGTON _crosses R.C._] +No, no tea, thank you, dear. [_Crosses and sits on sofa_.] We have just +had tea at Lady Markby’s. Such bad tea, too. It was quite undrinkable. +I wasn’t at all surprised. Her own son-in-law supplies it. Agatha is +looking forward so much to your ball to-night, dear Margaret. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Seated L.C._] Oh, you mustn’t think it is going to +be a ball, Duchess. It is only a dance in honour of my birthday. A +small and early. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Standing L.C._] Very small, very early, and very +select, Duchess. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_On sofa L._] Of course it’s going to be select. +But we know _that_, dear Margaret, about _your_ house. It is really one +of the few houses in London where I can take Agatha, and where I feel +perfectly secure about dear Berwick. I don’t know what society is coming +to. The most dreadful people seem to go everywhere. They certainly come +to my parties—the men get quite furious if one doesn’t ask them. Really, +some one should make a stand against it. + +LADY WINDERMERE. _I_ will, Duchess. I will have no one in my house +about whom there is any scandal. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_R.C._] Oh, don’t say that, Lady Windermere. I +should never be admitted! [_Sitting_.] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Oh, men don’t matter. With women it is different. +We’re good. Some of us are, at least. But we are positively getting +elbowed into the corner. Our husbands would really forget our existence +if we didn’t nag at them from time to time, just to remind them that we +have a perfect legal right to do so. + +LORD DARLINGTON. It’s a curious thing, Duchess, about the game of +marriage—a game, by the way, that is going out of fashion—the wives hold +all the honours, and invariably lose the odd trick. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. The odd trick? Is that the husband, Lord +Darlington? + +LORD DARLINGTON. It would be rather a good name for the modern husband. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Dear Lord Darlington, how thoroughly depraved you +are! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Lord Darlington is trivial. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Ah, don’t say that, Lady Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why do you _talk_ so trivially about life, then? + +LORD DARLINGTON. Because I think that life is far too important a thing +ever to talk seriously about it. [_Moves up C._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. What does he mean? Do, as a concession to my poor +wits, Lord Darlington, just explain to me what you really mean. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Coming down back of table_.] I think I had better +not, Duchess. Nowadays to be intelligible is to be found out. Good-bye! +[_Shakes hands with_ DUCHESS.] And now—[_goes up stage_] Lady +Windermere, good-bye. I may come to-night, mayn’t I? Do let me come. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Standing up stage with_ LORD DARLINGTON.] Yes, +certainly. But you are not to say foolish, insincere things to people. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Smiling_.] Ah! you are beginning to reform me. It +is a dangerous thing to reform any one, Lady Windermere. [_Bows_, _and +exit C._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Who has risen_, _goes C._] What a charming, +wicked creature! I like him so much. I’m quite delighted he’s gone! +How sweet you’re looking! Where _do_ you get your gowns? And now I must +tell you how sorry I am for you, dear Margaret. [_Crosses to sofa and +sits with_ LADY WINDERMERE.] Agatha, darling! + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. [_Rises_.] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Will you go and look over the photograph album that +I see there? + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. [_Goes to table up L._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Dear girl! She is so fond of photographs of +Switzerland. Such a pure taste, I think. But I really am so sorry for +you, Margaret. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Smiling_.] Why, Duchess? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Oh, on account of that horrid woman. She dresses so +well, too, which makes it much worse, sets such a dreadful example. +Augustus—you know my disreputable brother—such a trial to us all—well, +Augustus is completely infatuated about her. It is quite scandalous, for +she is absolutely inadmissible into society. Many a woman has a past, +but I am told that she has at least a dozen, and that they all fit. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Whom are you talking about, Duchess? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. About Mrs. Erlynne. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Mrs. Erlynne? I never heard of her, Duchess. And what +_has_ she to do with me? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. My poor child! Agatha, darling! + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Will you go out on the terrace and look at the +sunset? + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + + [_Exit through window_, _L._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Sweet girl! So devoted to sunsets! Shows such +refinement of feeling, does it not? After all, there is nothing like +Nature, is there? + +LADY WINDERMERE. But what is it, Duchess? Why do you talk to me about +this person? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Don’t you really know? I assure you we’re all so +distressed about it. Only last night at dear Lady Jansen’s every one was +saying how extraordinary it was that, of all men in London, Windermere +should behave in such a way. + +LADY WINDERMERE. My husband—what has _he_ got to do with any woman of +that kind? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Ah, what indeed, dear? That is the point. He goes +to see her continually, and stops for hours at a time, and while he is +there she is not at home to any one. Not that many ladies call on her, +dear, but she has a great many disreputable men friends—my own brother +particularly, as I told you—and that is what makes it so dreadful about +Windermere. We looked upon _him_ as being such a model husband, but I am +afraid there is no doubt about it. My dear nieces—you know the Saville +girls, don’t you?—such nice domestic creatures—plain, dreadfully plain, +but so good—well, they’re always at the window doing fancy work, and +making ugly things for the poor, which I think so useful of them in these +dreadful socialistic days, and this terrible woman has taken a house in +Curzon Street, right opposite them—such a respectable street, too! I +don’t know what we’re coming to! And they tell me that Windermere goes +there four and five times a week—they _see_ him. They can’t help it—and +although they never talk scandal, they—well, of course—they remark on it +to every one. And the worst of it all is that I have been told that this +woman has got a great deal of money out of somebody, for it seems that +she came to London six months ago without anything at all to speak of, +and now she has this charming house in Mayfair, drives her ponies in the +Park every afternoon and all—well, all—since she has known poor dear +Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Oh, I can’t believe it! + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. But it’s quite true, my dear. The whole of London +knows it. That is why I felt it was better to come and talk to you, and +advise you to take Windermere away at once to Homburg or to Aix, where +he’ll have something to amuse him, and where you can watch him all day +long. I assure you, my dear, that on several occasions after I was first +married, I had to pretend to be very ill, and was obliged to drink the +most unpleasant mineral waters, merely to get Berwick out of town. He +was so extremely susceptible. Though I am bound to say he never gave +away any large sums of money to anybody. He is far too high-principled +for that! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Interrupting_.] Duchess, Duchess, it’s impossible! +[_Rising and crossing stage to C._] We are only married two years. Our +child is but six months old. [_Sits in chair R. of L. table_.] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Ah, the dear pretty baby! How is the little +darling? Is it a boy or a girl? I hope a girl—Ah, no, I remember it’s a +boy! I’m so sorry. Boys are so wicked. My boy is excessively immoral. +You wouldn’t believe at what hours he comes home. And he’s only left +Oxford a few months—I really don’t know what they teach them there. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Are _all_ men bad? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Oh, all of them, my dear, all of them, without any +exception. And they never grow any better. Men become old, but they +never become good. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Windermere and I married for love. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Yes, we begin like that. It was only Berwick’s +brutal and incessant threats of suicide that made me accept him at all, +and before the year was out, he was running after all kinds of +petticoats, every colour, every shape, every material. In fact, before +the honeymoon was over, I caught him winking at my maid, a most pretty, +respectable girl. I dismissed her at once without a character.—No, I +remember I passed her on to my sister; poor dear Sir George is so +short-sighted, I thought it wouldn’t matter. But it did, though—it was +most unfortunate. [_Rises_.] And now, my dear child, I must go, as we +are dining out. And mind you don’t take this little aberration of +Windermere’s too much to heart. Just take him abroad, and he’ll come +back to you all right. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Come back to me? [_C._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_L.C._] Yes, dear, these wicked women get our +husbands away from us, but they always come back, slightly damaged, of +course. And don’t make scenes, men hate them! + +LADY WINDERMERE. It is very kind of you, Duchess, to come and tell me +all this. But I can’t believe that my husband is untrue to me. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Pretty child! I was like that once. Now I know +that all men are monsters. [LADY WINDERMERE _rings bell_.] The only +thing to do is to feed the wretches well. A good cook does wonders, and +that I know you have. My dear Margaret, you are not going to cry? + +LADY WINDERMERE. You needn’t be afraid, Duchess, I never cry. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. That’s quite right, dear. Crying is the refuge of +plain women but the ruin of pretty ones. Agatha, darling! + +LADY AGATHA. [_Entering L._] Yes, mamma. [_Stands back of table L.C._] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Come and bid good-bye to Lady Windermere, and thank +her for your charming visit. [_Coming down again_.] And by the way, I +must thank you for sending a card to Mr. Hopper—he’s that rich young +Australian people are taking such notice of just at present. His father +made a great fortune by selling some kind of food in circular tins—most +palatable, I believe—I fancy it is the thing the servants always refuse +to eat. But the son is quite interesting. I think he’s attracted by +dear Agatha’s clever talk. Of course, we should be very sorry to lose +her, but I think that a mother who doesn’t part with a daughter every +season has no real affection. We’re coming to-night, dear. [PARKER +_opens C. doors_.] And remember my advice, take the poor fellow out of +town at once, it is the only thing to do. Good-bye, once more; come, +Agatha. + + [_Exeunt_ DUCHESS _and_ LADY AGATHA _C._] + +LADY WINDERMERE. How horrible! I understand now what Lord Darlington +meant by the imaginary instance of the couple not two years married. Oh! +it can’t be true—she spoke of enormous sums of money paid to this woman. +I know where Arthur keeps his bank book—in one of the drawers of that +desk. I might find out by that. I _will_ find out. [_Opens drawer_.] +No, it is some hideous mistake. [_Rises and goes C._] Some silly +scandal! He loves _me_! He loves _me_! But why should I not look? I +am his wife, I have a right to look! [_Returns to bureau_, _takes out +book and examines it page by page_, _smiles and gives a sigh of relief_.] +I knew it! there is not a word of truth in this stupid story. [_Puts +book back in dranver_. _As the does so_, _starts and takes out another +book_.] A second book—private—locked! [_Tries to open it_, _but fails_. +_Sees paper knife on bureau_, _and with it cuts cover from book_. +_Begins to start at the first page_.] ‘Mrs. Erlynne—£600—Mrs. +Erlynne—£700—Mrs. Erlynne—£400.’ Oh! it is true! It is true! How +horrible! [_Throws book on floor_.] + + [_Enter_ LORD WINDERMERE _C._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Well, dear, has the fan been sent home yet? [_Going +R.C._ _Sees book_.] Margaret, you have cut open my bank book. You have +no right to do such a thing! + +LADY WINDERMERE. You think it wrong that you are found out, don’t you? + +LORD WINDERMERE. I think it wrong that a wife should spy on her husband. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I did not spy on you. I never knew of this woman’s +existence till half an hour ago. Some one who pitied me was kind enough +to tell me what every one in London knows already—your daily visits to +Curzon Street, your mad infatuation, the monstrous sums of money you +squander on this infamous woman! [_Crossing L._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret! don’t talk like that of Mrs. Erlynne, you +don’t know how unjust it is! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Turning to him_.] You are very jealous of Mrs. +Erlynne’s honour. I wish you had been as jealous of mine. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Your honour is untouched, Margaret. You don’t think +for a moment that—[_Puts book back into desk_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. I think that you spend your money strangely. That is +all. Oh, don’t imagine I mind about the money. As far as I am +concerned, you may squander everything we have. But what I _do_ mind is +that you who have loved me, you who have taught me to love you, should +pass from the love that is given to the love that is bought. Oh, it’s +horrible! [_Sits on sofa_.] And it is I who feel degraded! _you_ don’t +feel anything. I feel stained, utterly stained. You can’t realise how +hideous the last six months seems to me now—every kiss you have given me +is tainted in my memory. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Crossing to her_.] Don’t say that, Margaret. I +never loved any one in the whole world but you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rises_.] Who is this woman, then? Why do you take a +house for her? + +LORD WINDERMERE. I did not take a house for her. + +LADY WINDERMERE. You gave her the money to do it, which is the same +thing. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne— + +LADY WINDERMERE. Is there a Mr. Erlynne—or is he a myth? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Her husband died many years ago. She is alone in the +world. + +LADY WINDERMERE. No relations? [_A pause_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. None. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Rather curious, isn’t it? [_L._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_L.C._] Margaret, I was saying to you—and I beg you +to listen to me—that as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne, she has +conducted herself well. If years ago— + +LADY WINDERMERE. Oh! [_Crossing R.C._] I don’t want details about her +life! + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_C._] I am not going to give you any details about +her life. I tell you simply this—Mrs. Erlynne was once honoured, loved, +respected. She was well born, she had position—she lost everything—threw +it away, if you like. That makes it all the more bitter. Misfortunes +one can endure—they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer +for one’s own faults—ah!—there is the sting of life. It was twenty years +ago, too. She was little more than a girl then. She had been a wife for +even less time than you have. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I am not interested in her—and—you should not mention +this woman and me in the same breath. It is an error of taste. +[_Sitting R. at desk_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, you could save this woman. She wants to get +back into society, and she wants you to help her. [_Crossing to her_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Me! + +LORD WINDERMERE. Yes, you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. How impertinent of her! [_A pause_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, I came to ask you a great favour, and I still +ask it of you, though you have discovered what I had intended you should +never have known that I have given Mrs. Erlynne a large sum of money. I +want you to send her an invitation for our party to-night. [_Standing L. +of her_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. You are mad! [_Rises_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. I entreat you. People may chatter about her, do +chatter about her, of course, but they don’t know anything definite +against her. She has been to several houses—not to houses where you +would go, I admit, but still to houses where women who are in what is +called Society nowadays do go. That does not content her. She wants you +to receive her once. + +LADY WINDERMERE. As a triumph for her, I suppose? + +LORD WINDERMERE. No; but because she knows that you are a good woman—and +that if she comes here once she will have a chance of a happier, a surer +life than she has had. She will make no further effort to know you. +Won’t you help a woman who is trying to get back? + +LADY WINDERMERE. No! If a woman really repents, she never wishes to +return to the society that has made or seen her ruin. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I beg of you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Crossing to door R._] I am going to dress for +dinner, and don’t mention the subject again this evening. Arthur [_going +to him C._], you fancy because I have no father or mother that I am alone +in the world, and that you can treat me as you choose. You are wrong, I +have friends, many friends. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_L.C._] Margaret, you are talking foolishly, +recklessly. I won’t argue with you, but I insist upon your asking Mrs. +Erlynne to-night. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_R.C._] I shall do nothing of the kind. [_Crossing +L.C._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. You refuse? [_C._] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Absolutely! + +LORD WINDERMERE. Ah, Margaret, do this for my sake; it is her last +chance. + +LADY WINDERMERE. What has that to do with me? + +LORD WINDERMERE. How hard good women are! + +LADY WINDERMERE. How weak bad men are! + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, none of us men may be good enough for the +women we marry—that is quite true—but you don’t imagine I would ever—oh, +the suggestion is monstrous! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why should _you_ be different from other men? I am +told that there is hardly a husband in London who does not waste his life +over _some_ shameful passion. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I am not one of them. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I am not sure of that! + +LORD WINDERMERE. You are sure in your heart. But don’t make chasm after +chasm between us. God knows the last few minutes have thrust us wide +enough apart. Sit down and write the card. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Nothing in the whole world would induce me. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Crossing to bureau_.] Then I will! [_Rings electric +bell_, _sits and writes card_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. You are going to invite this woman? [_Crossing to +him_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Yes. [_Pause_. _Enter_ PARKER.] Parker! + +PARKER. Yes, my lord. [_Comes down L.C._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Have this note sent to Mrs. Erlynne at No. 84A Curzon +Street. [_Crossing to L.C. and giving note to_ PARKER.] There is no +answer! + + [_Exit_ PARKER _C._] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, if that woman comes here, I shall insult her. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, don’t say that. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I mean it. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Child, if you did such a thing, there’s not a woman in +London who wouldn’t pity you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. There is not a _good_ woman in London who would not +applaud me. We have been too lax. We must make an example. I propose +to begin to-night. [_Picking up fan_.] Yes, you gave me this fan +to-day; it was your birthday present. If that woman crosses my +threshold, I shall strike her across the face with it. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, you couldn’t do such a thing. + +LADY WINDERMERE. You don’t know me! [_Moves R._] + +[_Enter_ PARKER.] + +Parker! + +PARKER. Yes, my lady. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I shall dine in my own room. I don’t want dinner, in +fact. See that everything is ready by half-past ten. And, Parker, be +sure you pronounce the names of the guests very distinctly to-night. +Sometimes you speak so fast that I miss them. I am particularly anxious +to hear the names quite clearly, so as to make no mistake. You +understand, Parker? + +PARKER. Yes, my lady. + +LADY WINDERMERE. That will do! + + [_Exit_ PARKER _C._] + +[_Speaking to_ LORD WINDERMERE.] Arthur, if that woman comes here—I warn +you— + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, you’ll ruin us! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Us! From this moment my life is separate from yours. +But if you wish to avoid a public scandal, write at once to this woman, +and tell her that I forbid her to come here! + +LORD WINDERMERE. I will not—I cannot—she must come! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Then I shall do exactly as I have said. [_Goes R._] +You leave me no choice. + + [_Exit R._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Calling after her_.] Margaret! Margaret! [_A +pause_.] My God! What shall I do? I dare not tell her who this woman +really is. The shame would kill her. [_Sinks down into a chair and +buries his face in his hands_.] + + * * * * * + + ACT DROP + + + + +SECOND ACT + + + SCENE + +_Drawing-room in Lord Windermere’s house_. _Door R.U. opening into +ball-room_, _where band is playing_. _Door L. through which guests are +entering_. _Door L.U. opens on to illuminated terrace_. _Palms_, +_flowers_, _and brilliant lights_. _Room crowded with guests_. _Lady +Windermere is receiving them_. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Up C._] So strange Lord Windermere isn’t here. +Mr. Hopper is very late, too. You have kept those five dances for him, +Agatha? [_Comes down_.] + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Sitting on sofa_.] Just let me see your card. +I’m so glad Lady Windermere has revived cards.—They’re a mother’s only +safeguard. You dear simple little thing! [_Scratches out two names_.] +No nice girl should ever waltz with such particularly younger sons! It +looks so fast! The last two dances you might pass on the terrace with +Mr. Hopper. + +[_Enter_ MR. DUMBY _and_ LADY PLYMDALE _from the ball-room_.] + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Fanning herself_.] The air is so pleasant there. + +PARKER. Mrs. Cowper-Cowper. Lady Stutfield. Sir James Royston. Mr. +Guy Berkeley. + +[_These people enter as announced_.] + +DUMBY. Good evening, Lady Stutfield. I suppose this will be the last +ball of the season? + +LADY STUTFIELD. I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It’s been a delightful season, +hasn’t it? + +DUMBY. Quite delightful! Good evening, Duchess. I suppose this will be +the last ball of the season? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It has been a very dull +season, hasn’t it? + +DUMBY. Dreadfully dull! Dreadfully dull! + +MR. COWPER-COWPER. Good evening, Mr. Dumby. I suppose this will be the +last ball of the season? + +DUMBY. Oh, I think not. There’ll probably be two more. [_Wanders back +to_ LADY PLYMDALE.] + +PARKER. Mr. Rufford. Lady Jedburgh and Miss Graham. Mr. Hopper. + +[_These people enter as announced_.] + +HOPPER. How do you do, Lady Windermere? How do you do, Duchess? [_Bows +to_ LADY AGATHA.] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Dear Mr. Hopper, how nice of you to come so early. +We all know how you are run after in London. + +HOPPER. Capital place, London! They are not nearly so exclusive in +London as they are in Sydney. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Ah! we know your value, Mr. Hopper. We wish there +were more like you. It would make life so much easier. Do you know, Mr. +Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must +be so pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about. Agatha has +found it on the map. What a curious shape it is! Just like a large +packing case. However, it is a very young country, isn’t it? + +HOPPER. Wasn’t it made at the same time as the others, Duchess? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. How clever you are, Mr. Hopper. You have a +cleverness quite of your own. Now I mustn’t keep you. + +HOPPER. But I should like to dance with Lady Agatha, Duchess. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Well, I hope she has a dance left. Have you a dance +left, Agatha? + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. The next one? + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +HOPPER. May I have the pleasure? [LADY AGATHA _bows_.] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Mind you take great care of my little chatterbox, +Mr. Hopper. + +[LADY AGATHA _and_ MR. HOPPER _pass into ball-room_.] + +[_Enter_ LORD WINDERMERE.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, I want to speak to you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. In a moment. [_The music drops_.] + +PARKER. Lord Augustus Lorton. + +[_Enter_ LORD AUGUSTUS.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Good evening, Lady Windermere. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Sir James, will you take me into the ball-room? +Augustus has been dining with us to-night. I really have had quite +enough of dear Augustus for the moment. + +[SIR JAMES ROYSTON _gives the_ DUCHESS _his arm and escorts her into the +ball-room_.] + +PARKER. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bowden. Lord and Lady Paisley. Lord +Darlington. + +[_These people enter as announced_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Coming up to_ LORD WINDERMERE.] Want to speak to you +particularly, dear boy. I’m worn to a shadow. Know I don’t look it. +None of us men do look what we really are. Demmed good thing, too. What +I want to know is this. Who is she? Where does she come from? Why +hasn’t she got any demmed relations? Demmed nuisance, relations! But +they make one so demmed respectable. + +LORD WINDERMERE. You are talking of Mrs. Erlynne, I suppose? I only met +her six months ago. Till then, I never knew of her existence. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. You have seen a good deal of her since then. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Coldly_.] Yes, I have seen a good deal of her since +then. I have just seen her. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Egad! the women are very down on her. I have been dining +with Arabella this evening! By Jove! you should have heard what she said +about Mrs. Erlynne. She didn’t leave a rag on her. . . . [_Aside_.] +Berwick and I told her that didn’t matter much, as the lady in question +must have an extremely fine figure. You should have seen Arabella’s +expression! . . . But, look here, dear boy. I don’t know what to do +about Mrs. Erlynne. Egad! I might be married to her; she treats me with +such demmed indifference. She’s deuced clever, too! She explains +everything. Egad! she explains you. She has got any amount of +explanations for you—and all of them different. + +LORD WINDERMERE. No explanations are necessary about my friendship with +Mrs. Erlynne. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Hem! Well, look here, dear old fellow. Do you think she +will ever get into this demmed thing called Society? Would you introduce +her to your wife? No use beating about the confounded bush. Would you +do that? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Mrs. Erlynne is coming here to-night. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Your wife has sent her a card? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Mrs. Erlynne has received a card. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Then she’s all right, dear boy. But why didn’t you tell +me that before? It would have saved me a heap of worry and demmed +misunderstandings! + +[LADY AGATHA _and_ MR. HOPPER _cross and exit on terrace L.U.E._] + +PARKER. Mr. Cecil Graham! + +[_Enter_ MR. CECIL GRAHAM.] + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_Bows to_ LADY WINDERMERE, _passes over and shakes hands +with_ LORD WINDERMERE.] Good evening, Arthur. Why don’t you ask me how +I am? I like people to ask me how I am. It shows a wide-spread interest +in my health. Now, to-night I am not at all well. Been dining with my +people. Wonder why it is one’s people are always so tedious? My father +would talk morality after dinner. I told him he was old enough to know +better. But my experience is that as soon as people are old enough to +know better, they don’t know anything at all. Hallo, Tuppy! Hear you’re +going to be married again; thought you were tired of that game. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. You’re excessively trivial, my dear boy, excessively +trivial! + +CECIL GRAHAM. By the way, Tuppy, which is it? Have you been twice +married and once divorced, or twice divorced and once married? I say +you’ve been twice divorced and once married. It seems so much more +probable. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. I have a very bad memory. I really don’t remember which. +[_Moves away R._] + +LADY PLYMDALE. Lord Windermere, I’ve something most particular to ask +you. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I am afraid—if you will excuse me—I must join my wife. + +LADY PLYMDALE. Oh, you mustn’t dream of such a thing. It’s most +dangerous nowadays for a husband to pay any attention to his wife in +public. It always makes people think that he beats her when they’re +alone. The world has grown so suspicious of anything that looks like a +happy married life. But I’ll tell you what it is at supper. [_Moves +towards door of ball-room_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_C._] Margaret! I _must_ speak to you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Will you hold my fan for me, Lord Darlington? Thanks. +[_Comes down to him_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Crossing to her_.] Margaret, what you said before +dinner was, of course, impossible? + +LADY WINDERMERE. That woman is not coming here to-night! + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_R.C._] Mrs. Erlynne is coming here, and if you in +any way annoy or wound her, you will bring shame and sorrow on us both. +Remember that! Ah, Margaret! only trust me! A wife should trust her +husband! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_C._] London is full of women who trust their +husbands. One can always recognise them. They look so thoroughly +unhappy. I am not going to be one of them. [_Moves up_.] Lord +Darlington, will you give me back my fan, please? Thanks. . . . A useful +thing a fan, isn’t it? . . . I want a friend to-night, Lord Darlington: I +didn’t know I would want one so soon. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Lady Windermere! I knew the time would come some day; +but why to-night? + +LORD WINDERMERE. I _will_ tell her. I must. It would be terrible if +there were any scene. Margaret . . . + +PARKER. Mrs. Erlynne! + +[LORD WINDERMERE _starts_. MRS. ERLYNNE _enters_, _very beautifully +dressed and very dignified_. LADY WINDERMERE _clutches at her fan_, +_then lets it drop on the door_. _She bows coldly to_ MRS. ERLYNNE, _who +bows to her sweetly in turn_, _and sails into the room_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. You have dropped your fan, Lady Windermere. [_Picks it +up and hands it to her_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_C._] How do you do, again, Lord Windermere? How +charming your sweet wife looks! Quite a picture! + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_In a low voice_.] It was terribly rash of you to +come! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Smiling_.] The wisest thing I ever did in my life. +And, by the way, you must pay me a good deal of attention this evening. +I am afraid of the women. You must introduce me to some of them. The +men I can always manage. How do you do, Lord Augustus? You have quite +neglected me lately. I have not seen you since yesterday. I am afraid +you’re faithless. Every one told me so. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_R._] Now really, Mrs. Erlynne, allow me to explain. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_R.C._] No, dear Lord Augustus, you can’t explain +anything. It is your chief charm. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Ah! if you find charms in me, Mrs. Erlynne— + +[_They converse together_. LORD WINDERMERE _moves uneasily about the +room watching_ MRS. ERLYNNE.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_To_ LADY WINDERMERE.] How pale you are! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Cowards are always pale! + +LORD DARLINGTON. You look faint. Come out on the terrace. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. [_To_ PARKER.] Parker, send my cloak out. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Crossing to her_.] Lady Windermere, how beautifully +your terrace is illuminated. Reminds me of Prince Doria’s at Rome. + +[LADY WINDERMERE _bows coldly_, _and goes off with_ LORD DARLINGTON.] + +Oh, how do you do, Mr. Graham? Isn’t that your aunt, Lady Jedburgh? I +should so much like to know her. + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_After a moment’s hesitation and embarrassment_.] Oh, +certainly, if you wish it. Aunt Caroline, allow me to introduce Mrs. +Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. So pleased to meet you, Lady Jedburgh. [_Sits beside her +on the sofa_.] Your nephew and I are great friends. I am so much +interested in his political career. I think he’s sure to be a wonderful +success. He thinks like a Tory, and talks like a Radical, and that’s so +important nowadays. He’s such a brilliant talker, too. But we all know +from whom he inherits that. Lord Allandale was saying to me only +yesterday, in the Park, that Mr. Graham talks almost as well as his aunt. + +LADY JEDBURGH. [_R._] Most kind of you to say these charming things to +me! [MRS. ERLYNNE _smiles_, _and continues conversation_.] + +DUMBY. [_To_ CECIL GRAHAM.] Did you introduce Mrs. Erlynne to Lady +Jedburgh? + +CECIL GRAHAM. Had to, my dear fellow. Couldn’t help it! That woman can +make one do anything she wants. How, I don’t know. + +DUMBY. Hope to goodness she won’t speak to me! [_Saunters towards_ LADY +PLYMDALE.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_C._ _To_ LADY JEDBURGH.] On Thursday? With great +pleasure. [_Rises_, _and speaks to_ LORD WINDERMERE, _laughing_.] What +a bore it is to have to be civil to these old dowagers! But they always +insist on it! + +LADY PLYMDALE. [_To_ MR. DUMBY.] Who is that well-dressed woman talking +to Windermere? + +DUMBY. Haven’t got the slightest idea! Looks like an _édition de luxe_ +of a wicked French novel, meant specially for the English market. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. So that is poor Dumby with Lady Plymdale? I hear she is +frightfully jealous of him. He doesn’t seem anxious to speak to me +to-night. I suppose he is afraid of her. Those straw-coloured women +have dreadful tempers. Do you know, I think I’ll dance with you first, +Windermere. [LORD WINDERMERE _bites his lip and frowns_.] It will make +Lord Augustus so jealous! Lord Augustus! [LORD AUGUSTUS _comes down_.] +Lord Windermere insists on my dancing with him first, and, as it’s his +own house, I can’t well refuse. You know I would much sooner dance with +you. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_With a low bow_.] I wish I could think so, Mrs. +Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You know it far too well. I can fancy a person dancing +through life with you and finding it charming. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Placing his hand on his white waistcoat_.] Oh, thank +you, thank you. You are the most adorable of all ladies! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. What a nice speech! So simple and so sincere! Just the +sort of speech I like. Well, you shall hold my bouquet. [_Goes towards +ball-room on_ LORD WINDERMERE’S _arm_.] Ah, Mr. Dumby, how are you? I +am so sorry I have been out the last three times you have called. Come +and lunch on Friday. + +DUMBY. [_With perfect nonchalance_.] Delighted! + +[LADY PLYMDALE _glares with indignation at_ MR. DUMBY. LORD AUGUSTUS +_follows_ MRS. ERLYNNE _and_ LORD WINDERMERE _into the ball-room holding +bouquet_.] + +LADY PLYMDALE. [_To_ MR. DUMBY.] What an absolute brute you are! I +never can believe a word you say! Why did you tell me you didn’t know +her? What do you mean by calling on her three times running? You are +not to go to lunch there; of course you understand that? + +DUMBY. My dear Laura, I wouldn’t dream of going! + +LADY PLYMDALE. You haven’t told me her name yet! Who is she? + +DUMBY. [_Coughs slightly and smooths his hair_.] She’s a Mrs. Erlynne. + +LADY PLYMDALE. That woman! + +DUMBY. Yes; that is what every one calls her. + +LADY PLYMDALE. How very interesting! How intensely interesting! I +really must have a good stare at her. [_Goes to door of ball-room and +looks in_.] I have heard the most shocking things about her. They say +she is ruining poor Windermere. And Lady Windermere, who goes in for +being so proper, invites her! How extremely amusing! It takes a +thoroughly good woman to do a thoroughly stupid thing. You are to lunch +there on Friday! + +DUMBY. Why? + +LADY PLYMDALE. Because I want you to take my husband with you. He has +been so attentive lately, that he has become a perfect nuisance. Now, +this woman is just the thing for him. He’ll dance attendance upon her as +long as she lets him, and won’t bother me. I assure you, women of that +kind are most useful. They form the basis of other people’s marriages. + +DUMBY. What a mystery you are! + +LADY PLYMDALE. [_Looking at him_.] I wish _you_ were! + +DUMBY. I am—to myself. I am the only person in the world I should like +to know thoroughly; but I don’t see any chance of it just at present. + +[_They pass into the ball-room_, _and_ LADY WINDERMERE _and_ LORD +DARLINGTON _enter from the terrace_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. Her coming here is monstrous, unbearable. I know +now what you meant to-day at tea-time. Why didn’t you tell me right out? +You should have! + +LORD DARLINGTON. I couldn’t! A man can’t tell these things about +another man! But if I had known he was going to make you ask her here +to-night, I think I would have told you. That insult, at any rate, you +would have been spared. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I did not ask her. He insisted on her coming—against +my entreaties—against my commands. Oh! the house is tainted for me! I +feel that every woman here sneers at me as she dances by with my husband. +What have I done to deserve this? I gave him all my life. He took +it—used it—spoiled it! I am degraded in my own eyes; and I lack +courage—I am a coward! [_Sits down on sofa_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. If I know you at all, I know that you can’t live with a +man who treats you like this! What sort of life would you have with him? +You would feel that he was lying to you every moment of the day. You +would feel that the look in his eyes was false, his voice false, his +touch false, his passion false. He would come to you when he was weary +of others; you would have to comfort him. He would come to you when he +was devoted to others; you would have to charm him. You would have to be +to him the mask of his real life, the cloak to hide his secret. + +LADY WINDERMERE. You are right—you are terribly right. But where am I +to turn? You said you would be my friend, Lord Darlington.—Tell me, what +am I to do? Be my friend now. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Between men and women there is no friendship possible. +There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship. I love you— + +LADY WINDERMERE. No, no! [_Rises_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. Yes, I love you! You are more to me than anything in +the whole world. What does your husband give you? Nothing. Whatever is +in him he gives to this wretched woman, whom he has thrust into your +society, into your home, to shame you before every one. I offer you my +life— + +LADY WINDERMERE. Lord Darlington! + +LORD DARLINGTON. My life—my whole life. Take it, and do with it what +you will. . . . I love you—love you as I have never loved any living +thing. From the moment I met you I loved you, loved you blindly, +adoringly, madly! You did not know it then—you know it now! Leave this +house to-night. I won’t tell you that the world matters nothing, or the +world’s voice, or the voice of society. They matter a great deal. They +matter far too much. But there are moments when one has to choose +between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging +out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its +hypocrisy demands. You have that moment now. Choose! Oh, my love, +choose. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Moving slowly away from him_, _and looking at him +with startled eyes_.] I have not the courage. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Following her_.] Yes; you have the courage. There +may be six months of pain, of disgrace even, but when you no longer bear +his name, when you bear mine, all will be well. Margaret, my love, my +wife that shall be some day—yes, my wife! You know it! What are you +now? This woman has the place that belongs by right to you. Oh! go—go +out of this house, with head erect, with a smile upon your lips, with +courage in your eyes. All London will know why you did it; and who will +blame you? No one. If they do, what matter? Wrong? What is wrong? +It’s wrong for a man to abandon his wife for a shameless woman. It is +wrong for a wife to remain with a man who so dishonours her. You said +once you would make no compromise with things. Make none now. Be brave! +Be yourself! + +LADY WINDERMERE. I am afraid of being myself. Let me think! Let me +wait! My husband may return to me. [_Sits down on sofa_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. And you would take him back! You are not what I +thought you were. You are just the same as every other woman. You would +stand anything rather than face the censure of a world, whose praise you +would despise. In a week you will be driving with this woman in the +Park. She will be your constant guest—your dearest friend. You would +endure anything rather than break with one blow this monstrous tie. You +are right. You have no courage; none! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Ah, give me time to think. I cannot answer you now. +[_Passes her hand nervously over her brow_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. It must be now or not at all. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rising from the sofa_.] Then, not at all! [_A +pause_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. You break my heart! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Mine is already broken. [_A pause_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. To-morrow I leave England. This is the last time I +shall ever look on you. You will never see me again. For one moment our +lives met—our souls touched. They must never meet or touch again. +Good-bye, Margaret. [_Exit_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. How alone I am in life! How terribly alone! + +[_The music stops_. _Enter the_ DUCHESS OF BERWICK _and_ LORD PAISLEY +_laughing and talking_. _Other guests come on from ball-room_.] + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Dear Margaret, I’ve just been having such a +delightful chat with Mrs. Erlynne. I am so sorry for what I said to you +this afternoon about her. Of course, she must be all right if _you_ +invite her. A most attractive woman, and has such sensible views on +life. Told me she entirely disapproved of people marrying more than +once, so I feel quite safe about poor Augustus. Can’t imagine why people +speak against her. It’s those horrid nieces of mine—the Saville +girls—they’re always talking scandal. Still, I should go to Homburg, +dear, I really should. She is just a little too attractive. But where +is Agatha? Oh, there she is: [LADY AGATHA _and_ MR. HOPPER _enter from +terrace L.U.E._] Mr. Hopper, I am very, very angry with you. You have +taken Agatha out on the terrace, and she is so delicate. + +HOPPER. Awfully sorry, Duchess. We went out for a moment and then got +chatting together. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_C._] Ah, about dear Australia, I suppose? + +HOPPER. Yes! + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Agatha, darling! [_Beckons her over_.] + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma! + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Aside_.] Did Mr. Hopper definitely— + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. And what answer did you give him, dear child? + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Affectionately_.] My dear one! You always say +the right thing. Mr. Hopper! James! Agatha has told me everything. +How cleverly you have both kept your secret. + +HOPPER. You don’t mind my taking Agatha off to Australia, then, Duchess? + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Indignantly_.] To Australia? Oh, don’t mention +that dreadful vulgar place. + +HOPPER. But she said she’d like to come with me. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. [_Severely_.] Did you say that, Agatha? + +LADY AGATHA. Yes, mamma. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. Agatha, you say the most silly things possible. I +think on the whole that Grosvenor Square would be a more healthy place to +reside in. There are lots of vulgar people live in Grosvenor Square, but +at any rate there are no horrid kangaroos crawling about. But we’ll talk +about that to-morrow. James, you can take Agatha down. You’ll come to +lunch, of course, James. At half-past one, instead of two. The Duke +will wish to say a few words to you, I am sure. + +HOPPER. I should like to have a chat with the Duke, Duchess. He has not +said a single word to me yet. + +DUCHESS OF BERWICK. I think you’ll find he will have a great deal to say +to you to-morrow. [_Exit_ LADY AGATHA _with_ MR. HOPPER.] And now +good-night, Margaret. I’m afraid it’s the old, old story, dear. +Love—well, not love at first sight, but love at the end of the season, +which is so much more satisfactory. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Good-night, Duchess. + +[_Exit the_ DUCHESS OF BERWICK _on_ LORD PAISLEY’S _arm_.] + +LADY PLYMDALE. My dear Margaret, what a handsome woman your husband has +been dancing with! I should be quite jealous if I were you! Is she a +great friend of yours? + +LADY WINDERMERE. No! + +LADY PLYMDALE. Really? Good-night, dear. [_Looks at_ MR. DUMBY _and +exit_.] + +DUMBY. Awful manners young Hopper has! + +CECIL GRAHAM. Ah! Hopper is one of Nature’s gentlemen, the worst type +of gentleman I know. + +DUMBY. Sensible woman, Lady Windermere. Lots of wives would have +objected to Mrs. Erlynne coming. But Lady Windermere has that uncommon +thing called common sense. + +CECIL GRAHAM. And Windermere knows that nothing looks so like innocence +as an indiscretion. + +DUMBY. Yes; dear Windermere is becoming almost modern. Never thought he +would. [_Bows to_ LADY WINDERMERE _and exit_.] + +LADY JEDBURGH. Good night, Lady Windermere. What a fascinating woman +Mrs. Erlynne is! She is coming to lunch on Thursday, won’t you come too? +I expect the Bishop and dear Lady Merton. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I am afraid I am engaged, Lady Jedburgh. + +LADY JEDBURGH. So sorry. Come, dear. [_Exeunt_ LADY JEDBURGH _and_ +MISS GRAHAM.] + +[_Enter_ MRS. ERLYNNE _and_ LORD WINDERMERE.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Charming ball it has been! Quite reminds me of old days. +[_Sits on sofa_.] And I see that there are just as many fools in society +as there used to be. So pleased to find that nothing has altered! +Except Margaret. She’s grown quite pretty. The last time I saw +her—twenty years ago, she was a fright in flannel. Positive fright, I +assure you. The dear Duchess! and that sweet Lady Agatha! Just the type +of girl I like! Well, really, Windermere, if I am to be the Duchess’s +sister-in-law— + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Sitting L. of her_.] But are you—? + +[_Exit_ MR. CECIL GRAHAM _with rest of guests_. LADY WINDERMERE +_watches_, _with a look of scorn and pain_, MRS. ERLYNNE _and her +husband_. _They are unconscious of her presence_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh, yes! He’s to call to-morrow at twelve o’clock! He +wanted to propose to-night. In fact he did. He kept on proposing. Poor +Augustus, you know how he repeats himself. Such a bad habit! But I told +him I wouldn’t give him an answer till to-morrow. Of course I am going +to take him. And I dare say I’ll make him an admirable wife, as wives +go. And there is a great deal of good in Lord Augustus. Fortunately it +is all on the surface. Just where good qualities should be. Of course +you must help me in this matter. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I am not called on to encourage Lord Augustus, I +suppose? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh, no! I do the encouraging. But you will make me a +handsome settlement, Windermere, won’t you? + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Frowning_.] Is that what you want to talk to me +about to-night? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_With a gesture of impatience_.] I will not talk of +it here. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Laughing_.] Then we will talk of it on the terrace. +Even business should have a picturesque background. Should it not, +Windermere? With a proper background women can do anything. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Won’t to-morrow do as well? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. No; you see, to-morrow I am going to accept him. And I +think it would be a good thing if I was able to tell him that I had—well, +what shall I say?—£2000 a year left to me by a third cousin—or a second +husband—or some distant relative of that kind. It would be an additional +attraction, wouldn’t it? You have a delightful opportunity now of paying +me a compliment, Windermere. But you are not very clever at paying +compliments. I am afraid Margaret doesn’t encourage you in that +excellent habit. It’s a great mistake on her part. When men give up +saying what is charming, they give up thinking what is charming. But +seriously, what do you say to £2000? £2500, I think. In modern life +margin is everything. Windermere, don’t you think the world an intensely +amusing place? I do! + +[_Exit on terrace with_ LORD WINDERMERE. Music strikes up in ball-room.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. To stay in this house any longer is impossible. +To-night a man who loves me offered me his whole life. I refused it. It +was foolish of me. I will offer him mine now. I will give him mine. I +will go to him! [_Puts on cloak and goes to the door_, _then turns +back_. _Sits down at table and writes a letter_, _puts it into an +envelope_, _and leaves it on table_.] Arthur has never understood me. +When he reads this, he will. He may do as he chooses now with his life. +I have done with mine as I think best, as I think right. It is he who +has broken the bond of marriage—not I. I only break its bondage. + + [_Exit_.] + +[_PARKER enters L. and crosses towards the ball-room R._ _Enter_ MRS. +ERLYNNE.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Is Lady Windermere in the ball-room? + +PARKER. Her ladyship has just gone out. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Gone out? She’s not on the terrace? + +PARKER. No, madam. Her ladyship has just gone out of the house. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Starts_, _and looks at the servant with a puzzled +expression in her face_.] Out of the house? + +PARKER. Yes, madam—her ladyship told me she had left a letter for his +lordship on the table. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. A letter for Lord Windermere? + +PARKER. Yes, madam. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Thank you. + +[_Exit_ PARKER. _The music in the ball-room stops_.] Gone out of her +house! A letter addressed to her husband! [_Goes over to bureau and +looks at letter_. _Takes it up and lays it down again with a shudder of +fear_.] No, no! It would be impossible! Life doesn’t repeat its +tragedies like that! Oh, why does this horrible fancy come across me? +Why do I remember now the one moment of my life I most wish to forget? +Does life repeat its tragedies? [_Tears letter open and reads it_, _then +sinks down into a chair with a gesture of anguish_.] Oh, how terrible! +The same words that twenty years ago I wrote to her father! and how +bitterly I have been punished for it! No; my punishment, my real +punishment is to-night, is now! [_Still seated R._] + +[_Enter_ LORD WINDERMERE _L.U.E._] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Have you said good-night to my wife? [_Comes C._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Crushing letter in her hand_.] Yes. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Where is she? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. She is very tired. She has gone to bed. She said she had +a headache. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I must go to her. You’ll excuse me? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Rising hurriedly_.] Oh, no! It’s nothing serious. +She’s only very tired, that is all. Besides, there are people still in +the supper-room. She wants you to make her apologies to them. She said +she didn’t wish to be disturbed. [_Drops letter_.] She asked me to tell +you! + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Picks up letter_.] You have dropped something. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh yes, thank you, that is mine. [_Puts out her hand to +take it_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Still looking at letter_.] But it’s my wife’s +handwriting, isn’t it? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Takes the letter quickly_.] Yes, it’s—an address. Will +you ask them to call my carriage, please? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Certainly. + + [_Goes L. and Exit_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Thanks! What can I do? What can I do? I feel a passion +awakening within me that I never felt before. What can it mean? The +daughter must not be like the mother—that would be terrible. How can I +save her? How can I save my child? A moment may ruin a life. Who knows +that better than I? Windermere must be got out of the house; that is +absolutely necessary. [_Goes L._] But how shall I do it? It must be +done somehow. Ah! + +[_Enter_ LORD AUGUSTUS _R.U.E. carrying bouquet_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Dear lady, I am in such suspense! May I not have an +answer to my request? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Lord Augustus, listen to me. You are to take Lord +Windermere down to your club at once, and keep him there as long as +possible. You understand? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. But you said you wished me to keep early hours! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Nervously_.] Do what I tell you. Do what I tell you. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. And my reward? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Your reward? Your reward? Oh! ask me that to-morrow. +But don’t let Windermere out of your sight to-night. If you do I will +never forgive you. I will never speak to you again. I’ll have nothing +to do with you. Remember you are to keep Windermere at your club, and +don’t let him come back to-night. + + [_Exit L._] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Well, really, I might be her husband already. Positively +I might. [_Follows her in a bewildered manner_.] + + * * * * * + + ACT DROP. + + + + +THIRD ACT + + + SCENE + +_Lord Darlington’s Rooms_. _A large sofa is in front of fireplace R._ +_At the back of the stage a curtain is drawn across the window_. _Doors +L. and R._ _Table R. with writing materials. Table C. with syphons, +glasses, and Tantalus frame_. _Table L. with cigar and cigarette box. +Lamps lit_. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Standing by the fireplace_.] Why doesn’t he come? +This waiting is horrible. He should be here. Why is he not here, to +wake by passionate words some fire within me? I am cold—cold as a +loveless thing. Arthur must have read my letter by this time. If he +cared for me, he would have come after me, would have taken me back by +force. But he doesn’t care. He’s entrammelled by this woman—fascinated +by her—dominated by her. If a woman wants to hold a man, she has merely +to appeal to what is worst in him. We make gods of men and they leave +us. Others make brutes of them and they fawn and are faithful. How +hideous life is! . . . Oh! it was mad of me to come here, horribly mad. +And yet, which is the worst, I wonder, to be at the mercy of a man who +loves one, or the wife of a man who in one’s own house dishonours one? +What woman knows? What woman in the whole world? But will he love me +always, this man to whom I am giving my life? What do I bring him? Lips +that have lost the note of joy, eyes that are blinded by tears, chill +hands and icy heart. I bring him nothing. I must go back—no; I can’t go +back, my letter has put me in their power—Arthur would not take me back! +That fatal letter! No! Lord Darlington leaves England to-morrow. I +will go with him—I have no choice. [_Sits down for a few moments_. +_Then starts up and puts on her cloak_.] No, no! I will go back, let +Arthur do with me what he pleases. I can’t wait here. It has been +madness my coming. I must go at once. As for Lord Darlington—Oh! here +he is! What shall I do? What can I say to him? Will he let me go away +at all? I have heard that men are brutal, horrible . . . Oh! [_Hides +her face in her hands_.] + +[_Enter_ MRS. ERLYNNE _L._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Lady Windermere! [LADY WINDERMERE _starts and looks up_. +_Then recoils in contempt_.] Thank Heaven I am in time. You must go +back to your husband’s house immediately. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Must? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Authoritatively_.] Yes, you must! There is not a +second to be lost. Lord Darlington may return at any moment. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Don’t come near me! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh! You are on the brink of ruin, you are on the brink of +a hideous precipice. You must leave this place at once, my carriage is +waiting at the corner of the street. You must come with me and drive +straight home. + +[LADY WINDERMERE _throws off her cloak and flings it on the sofa_.] + +What are you doing? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Mrs. Erlynne—if you had not come here, I would have +gone back. But now that I see you, I feel that nothing in the whole +world would induce me to live under the same roof as Lord Windermere. +You fill me with horror. There is something about you that stirs the +wildest—rage within me. And I know why you are here. My husband sent +you to lure me back that I might serve as a blind to whatever relations +exist between you and him. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh! You don’t think that—you can’t. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Go back to my husband, Mrs. Erlynne. He belongs to you +and not to me. I suppose he is afraid of a scandal. Men are such +cowards. They outrage every law of the world, and are afraid of the +world’s tongue. But he had better prepare himself. He shall have a +scandal. He shall have the worst scandal there has been in London for +years. He shall see his name in every vile paper, mine on every hideous +placard. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. No—no— + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes! he shall. Had he come himself, I admit I would +have gone back to the life of degradation you and he had prepared for +me—I was going back—but to stay himself at home, and to send you as his +messenger—oh! it was infamous—infamous. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_C._] Lady Windermere, you wrong me horribly—you wrong +your husband horribly. He doesn’t know you are here—he thinks you are +safe in your own house. He thinks you are asleep in your own room. He +never read the mad letter you wrote to him! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_R._] Never read it! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. No—he knows nothing about it. + +LADY WINDERMERE. How simple you think me! [_Going to her_.] You are +lying to me! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Restraining herself_.] I am not. I am telling you the +truth. + +LADY WINDERMERE. If my husband didn’t read my letter, how is it that you +are here? Who told you I had left the house you were shameless enough to +enter? Who told you where I had gone to? My husband told you, and sent +you to decoy me back. [_Crosses L._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_R.C._] Your husband has never seen the letter. I—saw +it, I opened it. I—read it. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Turning to her_.] You opened a letter of mine to my +husband? You wouldn’t dare! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Dare! Oh! to save you from the abyss into which you are +falling, there is nothing in the world I would not dare, nothing in the +whole world. Here is the letter. Your husband has never read it. He +never shall read it. [_Going to fireplace_.] It should never have been +written. [_Tears it and throws it into the fire_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_With infinite contempt in her voice and look_.] How +do I know that that was my letter after all? You seem to think the +commonest device can take me in! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh! why do you disbelieve everything I tell you? What +object do you think I have in coming here, except to save you from utter +ruin, to save you from the consequence of a hideous mistake? That letter +that is burnt now _was_ your letter. I swear it to you! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Slowly_.] You took good care to burn it before I had +examined it. I cannot trust you. You, whose whole life is a lie, could +you speak the truth about anything? [_Sits down_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Hurriedly_.] Think as you like about me—say what you +choose against me, but go back, go back to the husband you love. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Sullenly_.] I do _not_ love him! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You do, and you know that he loves you. + +LADY WINDERMERE. He does not understand what love is. He understands it +as little as you do—but I see what you want. It would be a great +advantage for you to get me back. Dear Heaven! what a life I would have +then! Living at the mercy of a woman who has neither mercy nor pity in +her, a woman whom it is an infamy to meet, a degradation to know, a vile +woman, a woman who comes between husband and wife! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_With a gesture of despair_.] Lady Windermere, Lady +Windermere, don’t say such terrible things. You don’t know how terrible +they are, how terrible and how unjust. Listen, you must listen! Only go +back to your husband, and I promise you never to communicate with him +again on any pretext—never to see him—never to have anything to do with +his life or yours. The money that he gave me, he gave me not through +love, but through hatred, not in worship, but in contempt. The hold I +have over him— + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rising_.] Ah! you admit you have a hold! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes, and I will tell you what it is. It is his love for +you, Lady Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. You expect me to believe that? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You must believe it! It is true. It is his love for you +that has made him submit to—oh! call it what you like, tyranny, threats, +anything you choose. But it is his love for you. His desire to spare +you—shame, yes, shame and disgrace. + +LADY WINDERMERE. What do you mean? You are insolent! What have I to do +with you? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Humbly_.] Nothing. I know it—but I tell you that your +husband loves you—that you may never meet with such love again in your +whole life—that such love you will never meet—and that if you throw it +away, the day may come when you will starve for love and it will not be +given to you, beg for love and it will be denied you—Oh! Arthur loves +you! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur? And you tell me there is nothing between you? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Lady Windermere, before Heaven your husband is guiltless +of all offence towards you! And I—I tell you that had it ever occurred +to me that such a monstrous suspicion would have entered your mind, I +would have died rather than have crossed your life or his—oh! died, +gladly died! [_Moves away to sofa R._] + +LADY WINDERMERE. You talk as if you had a heart. Women like you have no +hearts. Heart is not in you. You are bought and sold. [_Sits L.C._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Starts_, _with a gesture of pain_. _Then restrains +herself_, _and comes over to where_ LADY WINDERMERE _is sitting_. _As +she speaks_, _she stretches out her hands towards her_, _but does not +dare to touch her_.] Believe what you choose about me. I am not worth a +moment’s sorrow. But don’t spoil your beautiful young life on my +account! You don’t know what may be in store for you, unless you leave +this house at once. You don’t know what it is to fall into the pit, to +be despised, mocked, abandoned, sneered at—to be an outcast! to find the +door shut against one, to have to creep in by hideous byways, afraid +every moment lest the mask should be stripped from one’s face, and all +the while to hear the laughter, the horrible laughter of the world, a +thing more tragic than all the tears the world has ever shed. You don’t +know what it is. One pays for one’s sin, and then one pays again, and +all one’s life one pays. You must never know that.—As for me, if +suffering be an expiation, then at this moment I have expiated all my +faults, whatever they have been; for to-night you have made a heart in +one who had it not, made it and broken it.—But let that pass. I may have +wrecked my own life, but I will not let you wreck yours. You—why, you +are a mere girl, you would be lost. You haven’t got the kind of brains +that enables a woman to get back. You have neither the wit nor the +courage. You couldn’t stand dishonour! No! Go back, Lady Windermere, +to the husband who loves you, whom you love. You have a child, Lady +Windermere. Go back to that child who even now, in pain or in joy, may +be calling to you. [LADY WINDERMERE _rises_.] God gave you that child. +He will require from you that you make his life fine, that you watch over +him. What answer will you make to God if his life is ruined through you? +Back to your house, Lady Windermere—your husband loves you! He has never +swerved for a moment from the love he bears you. But even if he had a +thousand loves, you must stay with your child. If he was harsh to you, +you must stay with your child. If he ill-treated you, you must stay with +your child. If he abandoned you, your place is with your child. + +[LADY WINDERMERE _bursts into tears and buries her face in her hands_.] + +[_Rushing to her_.] Lady Windermere! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Holding out her hands to her_, _helplessly_, _as a +child might do_.] Take me home. Take me home. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Is about to embrace her_. _Then restrains herself_. +_There is a look of wonderful joy in her face_.] Come! Where is your +cloak? [_Getting it from sofa_.] Here. Put it on. Come at once! + +[_They go to the door_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Stop! Don’t you hear voices? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. No, no! There was no one! + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, there is! Listen! Oh! that is my husband’s +voice! He is coming in! Save me! Oh, it’s some plot! You have sent +for him. + +[_Voices outside_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Silence! I’m here to save you, if I can. But I fear it +is too late! There! [_Points to the curtain across the window_.] The +first chance you have, slip out, if you ever get a chance! + +LADY WINDERMERE. But you? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh! never mind me. I’ll face them. + +[LADY WINDERMERE _hides herself behind the curtain_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Outside_.] Nonsense, dear Windermere, you must not +leave me! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Lord Augustus! Then it is I who am lost! [_Hesitates for +a moment_, then _looks round and sees door R._, _and exits through it_.] + +[_Enter_ LORD DARLINGTON, MR. DUMBY, LORD WINDERMERE, LORD AUGUSTUS +LORTON, _and_ MR. CECIL GRAHAM. + +DUMBY. What a nuisance their turning us out of the club at this hour! +It’s only two o’clock. [_Sinks into a chair_.] The lively part of the +evening is only just beginning. [_Yawns and closes his eyes_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. It is very good of you, Lord Darlington, allowing +Augustus to force our company on you, but I’m afraid I can’t stay long. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Really! I am so sorry! You’ll take a cigar, won’t +you? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Thanks! [_Sits down_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_To_ LORD WINDERMERE.] My dear boy, you must not dream +of going. I have a great deal to talk to you about, of demmed +importance, too. [_Sits down with him at L. table_.] + +CECIL GRAHAM. Oh! We all know what that is! Tuppy can’t talk about +anything but Mrs. Erlynne. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Well, that is no business of yours, is it, Cecil? + +CECIL GRAHAM. None! That is why it interests me. My own business +always bores me to death. I prefer other people’s. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Have something to drink, you fellows. Cecil, you’ll +have a whisky and soda? + +CECIL GRAHAM. Thanks. [_Goes to table with_ LORD DARLINGTON.] Mrs. +Erlynne looked very handsome to-night, didn’t she? + +LORD DARLINGTON. I am not one of her admirers. + +CECIL GRAHAM. I usen’t to be, but I am now. Why! she actually made me +introduce her to poor dear Aunt Caroline. I believe she is going to +lunch there. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_In Purple_.] No? + +CECIL GRAHAM. She is, really. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Excuse me, you fellows. I’m going away to-morrow. And +I have to write a few letters. [_Goes to writing table and sits down_.] + +DUMBY. Clever woman, Mrs. Erlynne. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Hallo, Dumby! I thought you were asleep. + +DUMBY. I am, I usually am! + +LORD AUGUSTUS. A very clever woman. Knows perfectly well what a demmed +fool I am—knows it as well as I do myself. + +[CECIL GRAHAM _comes towards him laughing_.] + +Ah, you may laugh, my boy, but it is a great thing to come across a woman +who thoroughly understands one. + +DUMBY. It is an awfully dangerous thing. They always end by marrying +one. + +CECIL GRAHAM. But I thought, Tuppy, you were never going to see her +again! Yes! you told me so yesterday evening at the club. You said +you’d heard— + +[_Whispering to him_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Oh, she’s explained that. + +CECIL GRAHAM. And the Wiesbaden affair? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. She’s explained that too. + +DUMBY. And her income, Tuppy? Has she explained that? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_In a very serious voice_.] She’s going to explain that +to-morrow. + +[CECIL GRAHAM _goes back to C. table_.] + +DUMBY. Awfully commercial, women nowadays. Our grandmothers threw their +caps over the mills, of course, but, by Jove, their granddaughters only +throw their caps over mills that can raise the wind for them. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. You want to make her out a wicked woman. She is not! + +CECIL GRAHAM. Oh! Wicked women bother one. Good women bore one. That +is the only difference between them. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Puffing a cigar_.] Mrs. Erlynne has a future before +her. + +DUMBY. Mrs. Erlynne has a past before her. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. I prefer women with a past. They’re always so demmed +amusing to talk to. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Well, you’ll have lots of topics of conversation with +_her_, Tuppy. [_Rising and going to him_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. You’re getting annoying, dear-boy; you’re getting demmed +annoying. + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_Puts his hands on his shoulders_.] Now, Tuppy, you’ve +lost your figure and you’ve lost your character. Don’t lose your temper; +you have only got one. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. My dear boy, if I wasn’t the most good-natured man in +London— + +CECIL GRAHAM. We’d treat you with more respect, wouldn’t we, Tuppy? +[_Strolls away_.] + +DUMBY. The youth of the present day are quite monstrous. They have +absolutely no respect for dyed hair. [LORD AUGUSTUS _looks round +angrily_.] + +CECIL GRAHAM. Mrs. Erlynne has a very great respect for dear Tuppy. + +DUMBY. Then Mrs. Erlynne sets an admirable example to the rest of her +sex. It is perfectly brutal the way most women nowadays behave to men +who are not their husbands. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Dumby, you are ridiculous, and Cecil, you let your +tongue run away with you. You must leave Mrs. Erlynne alone. You don’t +really know anything about her, and you’re always talking scandal against +her. + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_Coming towards him L.C._] My dear Arthur, I never talk +scandal. _I_ only talk gossip. + +LORD WINDERMERE. What is the difference between scandal and gossip? + +CECIL GRAHAM. Oh! gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But +scandal is gossip made tedious by morality. Now, I never moralise. A +man who moralises is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralises is +invariably plain. There is nothing in the whole world so unbecoming to a +woman as a Nonconformist conscience. And most women know it, I’m glad to +say. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Just my sentiments, dear boy, just my sentiments. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Sorry to hear it, Tuppy; whenever people agree with me, I +always feel I must be wrong. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. My dear boy, when I was your age— + +CECIL GRAHAM. But you never were, Tuppy, and you never will be. [_Goes +up C._] I say, Darlington, let us have some cards. You’ll play, Arthur, +won’t you? + +LORD WINDERMERE. No, thanks, Cecil. + +DUMBY. [_With a sigh_.] Good heavens! how marriage ruins a man! It’s +as demoralising as cigarettes, and far more expensive. + +CECIL GRAHAM. You’ll play, of course, Tuppy? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Pouring himself out a brandy and soda at table_.] +Can’t, dear boy. Promised Mrs. Erlynne never to play or drink again. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Now, my dear Tuppy, don’t be led astray into the paths of +virtue. Reformed, you would be perfectly tedious. That is the worst of +women. They always want one to be good. And if we are good, when they +meet us, they don’t love us at all. They like to find us quite +irretrievably bad, and to leave us quite unattractively good. + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Rising from R. table_, _where he has been writing +letters_.] They always do find us bad! + +DUMBY. I don’t think we are bad. I think we are all good, except Tuppy. + +LORD DARLINGTON. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are +looking at the stars. [_Sits down at C. table_.] + +DUMBY. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the +stars? Upon my word, you are very romantic to-night, Darlington. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Too romantic! You must be in love. Who is the girl? + +LORD DARLINGTON. The woman I love is not free, or thinks she isn’t. +[_Glances instinctively at_ LORD WINDERMERE _while he speaks_.] + +CECIL GRAHAM. A married woman, then! Well, there’s nothing in the world +like the devotion of a married woman. It’s a thing no married man knows +anything about. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Oh! she doesn’t love me. She is a good woman. She is +the only good woman I have ever met in my life. + +CECIL GRAHAM. The only good woman you have ever met in your life? + +LORD DARLINGTON. Yes! + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_Lighting a cigarette_.] Well, you are a lucky fellow! +Why, I have met hundreds of good women. I never seem to meet any but +good women. The world is perfectly packed with good women. To know them +is a middle-class education. + +LORD DARLINGTON. This woman has purity and innocence. She has +everything we men have lost. + +CECIL GRAHAM. My dear fellow, what on earth should we men do going about +with purity and innocence? A carefully thought-out buttonhole is much +more effective. + +DUMBY. She doesn’t really love you then? + +LORD DARLINGTON. No, she does not! + +DUMBY. I congratulate you, my dear fellow. In this world there are only +two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is +getting it. The last is much the worst; the last is a real tragedy! But +I am interested to hear she does not love you. How long could you love a +woman who didn’t love you, Cecil? + +CECIL GRAHAM. A woman who didn’t love me? Oh, all my life! + +DUMBY. So could I. But it’s so difficult to meet one. + +LORD DARLINGTON. How can you be so conceited, DUMBY? + +DUMBY. I didn’t say it as a matter of conceit. I said it as a matter of +regret. I have been wildly, madly adored. I am sorry I have. It has +been an immense nuisance. I should like to be allowed a little time to +myself now and then. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Looking round_.] Time to educate yourself, I suppose. + +DUMBY. No, time to forget all I have learned. That is much more +important, dear Tuppy. [LORD AUGUSTUS _moves uneasily in his chair_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. What cynics you fellows are! + +CECIL GRAHAM. What is a cynic? [_Sitting on the back of the sofa_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. A man who knows the price of everything and the value +of nothing. + +CECIL GRAHAM. And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who +sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of +any single thing. + +LORD DARLINGTON. You always amuse me, Cecil. You talk as if you were a +man of experience. + +CECIL GRAHAM. I am. [_Moves up to front off fireplace_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. You are far too young! + +CECIL GRAHAM. That is a great error. Experience is a question of +instinct about life. I have got it. Tuppy hasn’t. Experience is the +name Tuppy gives to his mistakes. That is all. [LORD AUGUSTUS _looks +round indignantly_.] + +DUMBY. Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_Standing with his back to the fireplace_.] One +shouldn’t commit any. [_Sees_ LADY WINDERMERE’S _fan on sofa_.] + +DUMBY. Life would be very dull without them. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Of course you are quite faithful to this woman you are in +love with, Darlington, to this good woman? + +LORD DARLINGTON. Cecil, if one really loves a woman, all other women in +the world become absolutely meaningless to one. Love changes one—_I_ am +changed. + +CECIL GRAHAM. Dear me! How very interesting! Tuppy, I want to talk to +you. [LORD AUGUSTUS _takes no notice_.] + +DUMBY. It’s no use talking to Tuppy. You might just as well talk to a +brick wall. + +CECIL GRAHAM. But I like talking to a brick wall—it’s the only thing in +the world that never contradicts me! Tuppy! + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Well, what is it? What is it? [_Rising and going over +to_ CECIL GRAHAM.] + +CECIL GRAHAM. Come over here. I want you particularly. [_Aside_.] +Darlington has been moralising and talking about the purity of love, and +that sort of thing, and he has got some woman in his rooms all the time. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. No, really! really! + +CECIL GRAHAM. [_In a low voice_.] Yes, here is her fan. [_Points to +the fan_.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Chuckling_.] By Jove! By Jove! + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Up by door_.] I am really off now, Lord Darlington. +I am sorry you are leaving England so soon. Pray call on us when you +come back! My wife and I will be charmed to see you! + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Upstage with_ LORD WINDERMERE.] I am afraid I shall +be away for many years. Good-night! + +CECIL GRAHAM. Arthur! + +LORD WINDERMERE. What? + +CECIL GRAHAM. I want to speak to you for a moment. No, do come! + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Putting on his coat_.] I can’t—I’m off! + +CECIL GRAHAM. It is something very particular. It will interest you +enormously. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Smiling_.] It is some of your nonsense, Cecil. + +CECIL GRAHAM. It isn’t! It isn’t really. + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Going to him_.] My dear fellow, you mustn’t go yet. I +have a lot to talk to you about. And Cecil has something to show you. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Walking over_.] Well, what is it? + +CECIL GRAHAM. Darlington has got a woman here in his rooms. Here is her +fan. Amusing, isn’t it? [_A pause_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Good God! [_Seizes the fan_—DUMBY _rises_.] + +CECIL GRAHAM. What is the matter? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Lord Darlington! + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Turning round_.] Yes! + +LORD WINDERMERE. What is my wife’s fan doing here in your rooms? Hands +off, Cecil. Don’t touch me. + +LORD DARLINGTON. Your wife’s fan? + +LORD WINDERMERE. Yes, here it is! + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Walking towards him_.] I don’t know! + +LORD WINDERMERE. You must know. I demand an explanation. Don’t hold +me, you fool. [_To_ CECIL GRAHAM.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. [_Aside_.] She is here after all! + +LORD WINDERMERE. Speak, sir! Why is my wife’s fan here? Answer me! By +God! I’ll search your rooms, and if my wife’s here, I’ll— [_Moves_.] + +LORD DARLINGTON. You shall not search my rooms. You have no right to do +so. I forbid you! + +LORD WINDERMERE. You scoundrel! I’ll not leave your room till I have +searched every corner of it! What moves behind that curtain? [_Rushes +towards the curtain C._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Enters behind R._] Lord Windermere! + +LORD WINDERMERE. Mrs. Erlynne! + +[_Every one starts and turns round_. LADY WINDERMERE _slips out from +behind the curtain and glides from the room L._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. I am afraid I took your wife’s fan in mistake for my own, +when I was leaving your house to-night. I am so sorry. [_Takes fan from +him_. LORD WINDERMERE _looks at her in contempt_. LORD DARLINGTON _in +mingled astonishment and anger_. LORD AUGUSTUS _turns away_. _The other +men smile at each other_.] + + ACT DROP. + + + + +FOURTH ACT + + + SCENE—Same as in Act I. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Lying on sofa_.] How can I tell him? I can’t tell +him. It would kill me. I wonder what happened after I escaped from that +horrible room. Perhaps she told them the true reason of her being there, +and the real meaning of that—fatal fan of mine. Oh, if he knows—how can +I look him in the face again? He would never forgive me. [_Touches +bell_.] How securely one thinks one lives—out of reach of temptation, +sin, folly. And then suddenly—Oh! Life is terrible. It rules us, we do +not rule it. + +[_Enter_ ROSALIE _R._] + +ROSALIE. Did your ladyship ring for me? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. Have you found out at what time Lord Windermere +came in last night? + +ROSALIE. His lordship did not come in till five o’clock. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Five o’clock? He knocked at my door this morning, +didn’t he? + +ROSALIE. Yes, my lady—at half-past nine. I told him your ladyship was +not awake yet. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Did he say anything? + +ROSALIE. Something about your ladyship’s fan. I didn’t quite catch what +his lordship said. Has the fan been lost, my lady? I can’t find it, and +Parker says it was not left in any of the rooms. He has looked in all of +them and on the terrace as well. + +LADY WINDERMERE. It doesn’t matter. Tell Parker not to trouble. That +will do. + + [_Exit_ ROSALIE.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rising_.] She is sure to tell him. I can fancy a +person doing a wonderful act of self-sacrifice, doing it spontaneously, +recklessly, nobly—and afterwards finding out that it costs too much. Why +should she hesitate between her ruin and mine? . . . How strange! I +would have publicly disgraced her in my own house. She accepts public +disgrace in the house of another to save me. . . . There is a bitter +irony in things, a bitter irony in the way we talk of good and bad women. +. . . Oh, what a lesson! and what a pity that in life we only get our +lessons when they are of no use to us! For even if she doesn’t tell, I +must. Oh! the shame of it, the shame of it. To tell it is to live +through it all again. Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are +the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless. . . . Oh! +[_Starts as_ LORD WINDERMERE _enters_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Kisses her_.] Margaret—how pale you look! + +LADY WINDERMERE. I slept very badly. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Sitting on sofa with her_.] I am so sorry. I came +in dreadfully late, and didn’t like to wake you. You are crying, dear. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, I am crying, for I have something to tell you, +Arthur. + +LORD WINDERMERE. My dear child, you are not well. You’ve been doing too +much. Let us go away to the country. You’ll be all right at Selby. The +season is almost over. There is no use staying on. Poor darling! We’ll +go away to-day, if you like. [_Rises_.] We can easily catch the 3.40. +I’ll send a wire to Fannen. [_Crosses and sits down at table to write a +telegram_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes; let us go away to-day. No; I can’t go to-day, +Arthur. There is some one I must see before I leave town—some one who +has been kind to me. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Rising and leaning over sofa_.] Kind to you? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Far more than that. [_Rises and goes to him_.] I will +tell you, Arthur, but only love me, love me as you used to love me. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Used to? You are not thinking of that wretched woman +who came here last night? [_Coming round and sitting R. of her_.] You +don’t still imagine—no, you couldn’t. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I don’t. I know now I was wrong and foolish. + +LORD WINDERMERE. It was very good of you to receive her last night—but +you are never to see her again. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why do you say that? [_A pause_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Holding her hand_.] Margaret, I thought Mrs. Erlynne +was a woman more sinned against than sinning, as the phrase goes. I +thought she wanted to be good, to get back into a place that she had lost +by a moment’s folly, to lead again a decent life. I believed what she +told me—I was mistaken in her. She is bad—as bad as a woman can be. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, Arthur, don’t talk so bitterly about any woman. +I don’t think now that people can be divided into the good and the bad as +though they were two separate races or creations. What are called good +women may have terrible things in them, mad moods of recklessness, +assertion, jealousy, sin. Bad women, as they are termed, may have in +them sorrow, repentance, pity, sacrifice. And I don’t think Mrs. Erlynne +a bad woman—I know she’s not. + +LORD WINDERMERE. My dear child, the woman’s impossible. No matter what +harm she tries to do us, you must never see her again. She is +inadmissible anywhere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. But I want to see her. I want her to come here. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Never! + +LADY WINDERMERE. She came here once as _your_ guest. She must come now +as _mine_. That is but fair. + +LORD WINDERMERE. She should never have come here. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rising_.] It is too late, Arthur, to say that now. +[_Moves away_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Rising_.] Margaret, if you knew where Mrs. Erlynne +went last night, after she left this house, you would not sit in the same +room with her. It was absolutely shameless, the whole thing. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, I can’t bear it any longer. I must tell you. +Last night— + +[_Enter_ PARKER _with a tray on which lie_ LADY WINDERMERE’S _fan and a +card_.] + +PARKER. Mrs. Erlynne has called to return your ladyship’s fan which she +took away by mistake last night. Mrs. Erlynne has written a message on +the card. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Oh, ask Mrs. Erlynne to be kind enough to come up. +[_Reads card_.] Say I shall be very glad to see her. + + [_Exit_ PARKER.] + +She wants to see me, Arthur. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Takes card and looks at it_.] Margaret, I _beg_ you +not to. Let me see her first, at any rate. She’s a very dangerous +woman. She is the most dangerous woman I know. You don’t realise what +you’re doing. + +LADY WINDERMERE. It is right that I should see her. + +LORD WINDERMERE. My child, you may be on the brink of a great sorrow. +Don’t go to meet it. It is absolutely necessary that I should see her +before you do. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Why should it be necessary? + +[_Enter_ PARKER.] + +PARKER. Mrs. Erlynne. + +[_Enter_ MRS. ERLYNNE.] + + [_Exit_ PARKER.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. How do you do, Lady Windermere? [_To_ LORD WINDERMERE.] +How do you do? Do you know, Lady Windermere, I am so sorry about your +fan. I can’t imagine how I made such a silly mistake. Most stupid of +me. And as I was driving in your direction, I thought I would take the +opportunity of returning your property in person with many apologies for +my carelessness, and of bidding you good-bye. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Good-bye? [_Moves towards sofa with_ MRS. ERLYNNE _and +sits down beside her_.] Are you going away, then, Mrs. Erlynne? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes; I am going to live abroad again. The English climate +doesn’t suit me. My—heart is affected here, and that I don’t like. I +prefer living in the south. London is too full of fogs and—and serious +people, Lord Windermere. Whether the fogs produce the serious people or +whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don’t know, but the whole +thing rather gets on my nerves, and so I’m leaving this afternoon by the +Club Train. + +LADY WINDERMERE. This afternoon? But I wanted so much to come and see +you. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. How kind of you! But I am afraid I have to go. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Shall I never see you again, Mrs. Erlynne? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. I am afraid not. Our lives lie too far apart. But there +is a little thing I would like you to do for me. I want a photograph of +you, Lady Windermere—would you give me one? You don’t know how gratified +I should be. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Oh, with pleasure. There is one on that table. I’ll +show it to you. [_Goes across to the table_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Coming up to_ MRS. ERLYNNE _and speaking in a low +voice_.] It is monstrous your intruding yourself here after your conduct +last night. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_With an amused smile_.] My dear Windermere, manners +before morals! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Returning_.] I’m afraid it is very flattering—I am +not so pretty as that. [_Showing photograph_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You are much prettier. But haven’t you got one of +yourself with your little boy? + +LADY WINDERMERE. I have. Would you prefer one of those? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I’ll go and get it for you, if you’ll excuse me for a +moment. I have one upstairs. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. So sorry, Lady Windermere, to give you so much trouble. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Moves to door R._] No trouble at all, Mrs. Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Thanks so much. + +[_Exit_ LADY WINDERMERE _R._] You seem rather out of temper this +morning, Windermere. Why should you be? Margaret and I get on +charmingly together. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I can’t bear to see you with her. Besides, you have +not told me the truth, Mrs. Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. I have not told _her_ the truth, you mean. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Standing C._] I sometimes wish you had. I should +have been spared then the misery, the anxiety, the annoyance of the last +six months. But rather than my wife should know—that the mother whom she +was taught to consider as dead, the mother whom she has mourned as dead, +is living—a divorced woman, going about under an assumed name, a bad +woman preying upon life, as I know you now to be—rather than that, I was +ready to supply you with money to pay bill after bill, extravagance after +extravagance, to risk what occurred yesterday, the first quarrel I have +ever had with my wife. You don’t understand what that means to me. How +could you? But I tell you that the only bitter words that ever came from +those sweet lips of hers were on your account, and I hate to see you next +her. You sully the innocence that is in her. [_Moves L.C._] And then I +used to think that with all your faults you were frank and honest. You +are not. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Why do you say that? + +LORD WINDERMERE. You made me get you an invitation to my wife’s ball. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. For my daughter’s ball—yes. + +LORD WINDERMERE. You came, and within an hour of your leaving the house +you are found in a man’s rooms—you are disgraced before every one. +[_Goes up stage C._] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Turning round on her_.] Therefore I have a right to +look upon you as what you are—a worthless, vicious woman. I have the +right to tell you never to enter this house, never to attempt to come +near my wife— + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Coldly_.] My daughter, you mean. + +LORD WINDERMERE. You have no right to claim her as your daughter. You +left her, abandoned her when she was but a child in the cradle, abandoned +her for your lover, who abandoned you in turn. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Rising_.] Do you count that to his credit, Lord +Windermere—or to mine? + +LORD WINDERMERE. To his, now that I know you. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Take care—you had better be careful. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Oh, I am not going to mince words for you. I know you +thoroughly. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Looks steadily at him_.] I question that. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I _do_ know you. For twenty years of your life you +lived without your child, without a thought of your child. One day you +read in the papers that she had married a rich man. You saw your hideous +chance. You knew that to spare her the ignominy of learning that a woman +like you was her mother, I would endure anything. You began your +blackmailing. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Shrugging her shoulders_.] Don’t use ugly words, +Windermere. They are vulgar. I saw my chance, it is true, and took it. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Yes, you took it—and spoiled it all last night by being +found out. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_With a strange smile_.] You are quite right, I spoiled +it all last night. + +LORD WINDERMERE. And as for your blunder in taking my wife’s fan from +here and then leaving it about in Darlington’s rooms, it is unpardonable. +I can’t bear the sight of it now. I shall never let my wife use it +again. The thing is soiled for me. You should have kept it and not +brought it back. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. I think I shall keep it. [_Goes up_.] It’s extremely +pretty. [_Takes up fan_.] I shall ask Margaret to give it to me. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I hope my wife will give it you. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh, I’m sure she will have no objection. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I wish that at the same time she would give you a +miniature she kisses every night before she prays—It’s the miniature of a +young innocent-looking girl with beautiful _dark_ hair. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Ah, yes, I remember. How long ago that seems! [_Goes to +sofa and sits down_.] It was done before I was married. Dark hair and +an innocent expression were the fashion then, Windermere! [_A pause_.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. What do you mean by coming here this morning? What is +your object? [_Crossing L.C. and sitting_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_With a note of irony in her voice_.] To bid good-bye to +my dear daughter, of course. [LORD WINDERMERE _bites his under lip in +anger_. MRS. ERLYNNE _looks at him_, _and her voice and manner become +serious_. _In her accents as she talks there is a note of deep tragedy_. +_For a moment she reveals herself_.] Oh, don’t imagine I am going to +have a pathetic scene with her, weep on her neck and tell her who I am, +and all that kind of thing. I have no ambition to play the part of a +mother. Only once in my life have I known a mother’s feelings. That was +last night. They were terrible—they made me suffer—they made me suffer +too much. For twenty years, as you say, I have lived childless,—I want +to live childless still. [_Hiding her feelings with a trivial laugh_.] +Besides, my dear Windermere, how on earth could I pose as a mother with a +grown-up daughter? Margaret is twenty-one, and I have never admitted +that I am more than twenty-nine, or thirty at the most. Twenty-nine when +there are pink shades, thirty when there are not. So you see what +difficulties it would involve. No, as far as I am concerned, let your +wife cherish the memory of this dead, stainless mother. Why should I +interfere with her illusions? I find it hard enough to keep my own. I +lost one illusion last night. I thought I had no heart. I find I have, +and a heart doesn’t suit me, Windermere. Somehow it doesn’t go with +modern dress. It makes one look old. [_Takes up hand-mirror from table +and looks into it_.] And it spoils one’s career at critical moments. + +LORD WINDERMERE. You fill me with horror—with absolute horror. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Rising_.] I suppose, Windermere, you would like me to +retire into a convent, or become a hospital nurse, or something of that +kind, as people do in silly modern novels. That is stupid of you, +Arthur; in real life we don’t do such things—not as long as we have any +good looks left, at any rate. No—what consoles one nowadays is not +repentance, but pleasure. Repentance is quite out of date. And besides, +if a woman really repents, she has to go to a bad dressmaker, otherwise +no one believes in her. And nothing in the world would induce me to do +that. No; I am going to pass entirely out of your two lives. My coming +into them has been a mistake—I discovered that last night. + +LORD WINDERMERE. A fatal mistake. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Smiling_.] Almost fatal. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I am sorry now I did not tell my wife the whole thing +at once. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. I regret my bad actions. You regret your good ones—that +is the difference between us. + +LORD WINDERMERE. I don’t trust you. I _will_ tell my wife. It’s better +for her to know, and from me. It will cause her infinite pain—it will +humiliate her terribly, but it’s right that she should know. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You propose to tell her? + +LORD WINDERMERE. I am going to tell her. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Going up to him_.] If you do, I will make my name so +infamous that it will mar every moment of her life. It will ruin her, +and make her wretched. If you dare to tell her, there is no depth of +degradation I will not sink to, no pit of shame I will not enter. You +shall not tell her—I forbid you. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Why? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_After a pause_.] If I said to you that I cared for her, +perhaps loved her even—you would sneer at me, wouldn’t you? + +LORD WINDERMERE. I should feel it was not true. A mother’s love means +devotion, unselfishness, sacrifice. What could you know of such things? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You are right. What could I know of such things? Don’t +let us talk any more about it—as for telling my daughter who I am, that I +do not allow. It is my secret, it is not yours. If I make up my mind to +tell her, and I think I will, I shall tell her before I leave the +house—if not, I shall never tell her. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Angrily_.] Then let me beg of you to leave our house +at once. I will make your excuses to Margaret. + +[_Enter_ LADY WINDERMERE _R._ _She goes over to_ MRS. ERLYNNE _with the +photograph in her hand_. LORD WINDERMERE _moves to back of sofa_, _and +anxiously watches_ MRS. ERLYNNE _as the scene progresses_.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. I am so sorry, Mrs. Erlynne, to have kept you waiting. +I couldn’t find the photograph anywhere. At last I discovered it in my +husband’s dressing-room—he had stolen it. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Takes the photograph from her and looks at it_.] I am +not surprised—it is charming. [_Goes over to sofa with_ LADY WINDERMERE, +_and sits down beside her_. _Looks again at the photograph_.] And so +that is your little boy! What is he called? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Gerard, after my dear father. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Laying the photograph down_.] Really? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. If it had been a girl, I would have called it +after my mother. My mother had the same name as myself, Margaret. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. My name is Margaret too. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Indeed! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes. [_Pause_.] You are devoted to your mother’s memory, +Lady Windermere, your husband tells me. + +LADY WINDERMERE. We all have ideals in life. At least we all should +have. Mine is my mother. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They +wound, but they’re better. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Shaking her head_.] If I lost my ideals, I should +lose everything. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Everything? + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. [_Pause_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Did your father often speak to you of your mother? + +LADY WINDERMERE. No, it gave him too much pain. He told me how my +mother had died a few months after I was born. His eyes filled with +tears as he spoke. Then he begged me never to mention her name to him +again. It made him suffer even to hear it. My father—my father really +died of a broken heart. His was the most ruined life know. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Rising_.] I am afraid I must go now, Lady Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rising_.] Oh no, don’t. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. I think I had better. My carriage must have come back by +this time. I sent it to Lady Jedburgh’s with a note. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, would you mind seeing if Mrs. Erlynne’s +carriage has come back? + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Pray don’t trouble, Lord Windermere. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, Arthur, do go, please. + +[LORD WINDERMERE _hesitated for a moment and looks at_ MRS. ERLYNNE. +_She remains quite impassive_. _He leaves the room_.] + +[_To_ MRS. ERLYNNE.] Oh! What am I to say to you? You saved me last +night? [_Goes towards her_.] + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Hush—don’t speak of it. + +LADY WINDERMERE. I must speak of it. I can’t let you think that I am +going to accept this sacrifice. I am not. It is too great. I am going +to tell my husband everything. It is my duty. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. It is not your duty—at least you have duties to others +besides him. You say you owe me something? + +LADY WINDERMERE. I owe you everything. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Then pay your debt by silence. That is the only way in +which it can be paid. Don’t spoil the one good thing I have done in my +life by telling it to any one. Promise me that what passed last night +will remain a secret between us. You must not bring misery into your +husband’s life. Why spoil his love? You must not spoil it. Love is +easily killed. Oh! how easily love is killed. Pledge me your word, Lady +Windermere, that you will never tell him. I insist upon it. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_With bowed head_.] It is your will, not mine. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes, it is my will. And never forget your child—I like to +think of you as a mother. I like you to think of yourself as one. + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Looking up_.] I always will now. Only once in my +life I have forgotten my own mother—that was last night. Oh, if I had +remembered her I should not have been so foolish, so wicked. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_With a slight shudder_.] Hush, last night is quite +over. + +[_Enter_ LORD WINDERMERE.] + +LORD WINDERMERE. Your carriage has not come back yet, Mrs. Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. It makes no matter. I’ll take a hansom. There is nothing +in the world so respectable as a good Shrewsbury and Talbot. And now, +dear Lady Windermere, I am afraid it is really good-bye. [_Moves up C._] +Oh, I remember. You’ll think me absurd, but do you know I’ve taken a +great fancy to this fan that I was silly enough to run away with last +night from your ball. Now, I wonder would you give it to me? Lord +Windermere says you may. I know it is his present. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Oh, certainly, if it will give you any pleasure. But +it has my name on it. It has ‘Margaret’ on it. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. But we have the same Christian name. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Oh, I forgot. Of course, do have it. What a wonderful +chance our names being the same! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. Quite wonderful. Thanks—it will always remind me of you. +[_Shakes hands with her_.] + +[_Enter_ PARKER.] + +PARKER. Lord Augustus Lorton. Mrs. Erlynne’s carriage has come. + +[_Enter_ LORD AUGUSTUS.] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Good morning, dear boy. Good morning, Lady Windermere. +[_Sees_ MRS. ERLYNNE.] Mrs. Erlynne! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. How do you do, Lord Augustus? Are you quite well this +morning? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Coldly_.] Quite well, thank you, Mrs. Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. You don’t look at all well, Lord Augustus. You stop up +too late—it is so bad for you. You really should take more care of +yourself. Good-bye, Lord Windermere. [_Goes towards door with a bow to_ +LORD AUGUSTUS. _Suddenly smiles and looks back at him_.] Lord Augustus! +Won’t you see me to my carriage? You might carry the fan. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Allow me! + +MRS. ERLYNNE. No; I want Lord Augustus. I have a special message for +the dear Duchess. Won’t you carry the fan, Lord Augustus? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. If you really desire it, Mrs. Erlynne. + +MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Laughing_.] Of course I do. You’ll carry it so +gracefully. You would carry off anything gracefully, dear Lord Augustus. + +[_When she reaches the door she looks back for a moment at_ LADY +WINDERMERE. _Their eyes meet_. _Then she turns_, _and exit C. followed +by_ LORD AUGUSTUS.] + +LADY WINDERMERE. You will never speak against Mrs. Erlynne again, +Arthur, will you? + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Gravely_.] She is better than one thought her. + +LADY WINDERMERE. She is better than I am. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Smiling as he strokes her hair_.] Child, you and she +belong to different worlds. Into your world evil has never entered. + +LADY WINDERMERE. Don’t say that, Arthur. There is the same world for +all of us, and good and evil, sin and innocence, go through it hand in +hand. To shut one’s eyes to half of life that one may live securely is +as though one blinded oneself that one might walk with more safety in a +land of pit and precipice. + +LORD WINDERMERE. [_Moves down with her_.] Darling, why do you say that? + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Sits on sofa_.] Because I, who had shut my eyes to +life, came to the brink. And one who had separated us— + +LORD WINDERMERE. We were never separated. + +LADY WINDERMERE. We never must be again. O Arthur, don’t love me less, +and I will trust you more. I will trust you absolutely. Let us go to +Selby. In the Rose Garden at Selby the roses are white and red. + +[_Enter_ LORD AUGUSTUS _C._] + +LORD AUGUSTUS. Arthur, she has explained everything! + +[LADY WINDERMERE _looks horribly frightened at this_. LORD WINDERMERE +_starts_. LORD AUGUSTUS _takes_ WINDERMERE _by the arm and brings him to +front of stage_. _He talks rapidly and in a low voice_. LADY WINDERMERE +_stands watching them in terror_.] My dear fellow, she has explained +every demmed thing. We all wronged her immensely. It was entirely for +my sake she went to Darlington’s rooms. Called first at the Club—fact +is, wanted to put me out of suspense—and being told I had gone +on—followed—naturally frightened when she heard a lot of us coming +in—retired to another room—I assure you, most gratifying to me, the whole +thing. We all behaved brutally to her. She is just the woman for me. +Suits me down to the ground. All the conditions she makes are that we +live entirely out of England. A very good thing too. Demmed clubs, +demmed climate, demmed cooks, demmed everything. Sick of it all! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Frightened_.] Has Mrs. Erlynne—? + +LORD AUGUSTUS. [_Advancing towards her with a low bow_.] Yes, Lady +Windermere— Mrs. Erlynne has done me the honour of accepting my hand. + +LORD WINDERMERE. Well, you are certainly marrying a very clever woman! + +LADY WINDERMERE. [_Taking her husband’s hand_.] Ah, you’re marrying a +very good woman! + + * * * * * + + CURTAIN + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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