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
