Lady Windermere's Fan E-book
Author: Oscar Wilde
Genre: Comedy, Drama
1892
LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN
by Oscar Wilde
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
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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
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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.
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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 7:30 p.m.
FIRST ACT
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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.]
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[Enter Parker.]
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PAR. Is your ladyship at home this afternoon?
LADY WIN. Yes- who has called?
PAR. Lord Darlington, my lady.
LADY WIN. [Hesitates for a moment.] Show him up- and I'm at home to
any one who calls.
PAR. Yes, my lady. [Exit C.]
LADY WIN. It's best for me to see him before to-night. I'm glad
he's come.
-
[Enter Parker C.]
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PAR. Lord Darlington.
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[Enter Lord Darlington C.] [Exit Parker.]
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LORD DAR. How do you do, Lady Windermere?
LADY WIN. 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 DAR. They are quite perfect. [Sees a fan lying on the table.]
And what a wonderful fan! May I look at it?
LADY WIN. 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 DAR. No? Is it really?
LADY WIN. 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 DAR. [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 WIN. Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night at the Foreign
Office. I am afraid you are going to annoy me again.
LORD DAR. I, Lady Windermere?
-
[Enter Parker and Footman C. with tray and tea-things.]
-
LADY WIN. Put it there, Parker. That will do. [Wipes her hands with
her pocket-handkerchief, goes to tea-table L. and sits down.]
Won't you come over, Lord Darlington? [Exit Parker C.]
LORD DAR. [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 WIN. Well, you kept paying me elaborate compliments the whole
evening.
LORD DAR. [Smiling.] Ah, now-a-days 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 WIN. [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 DAR. Ah, but I did mean them. [Takes tea which she offers him.]
LADY WIN. [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 DAR. We all have our little vanities, Lady Windermere.
LADY WIN. Why do you make that your special one? [Still seated at
table L.]
LORD DAR. [Still seated L. C.] Oh, now-a-days 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 WIN. Don't you want the world to take you seriously then,
Lord Darlington?
LORD DAR. 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 WIN. Why- why me?
LORD DAR. [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 WIN. Why do you say that?
LORD DAR. Oh!- we all want friends at times.
LADY WIN. I think we're very good friends already, Lord Darlington.
We can always remain so as long as you don't-
LORD DAR. Don't what?
LADY WIN. 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 eldest 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 DAR. My dear Lady Windermere!
LADY WIN. [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 DAR. You think the age very bad?
LADY WIN. Yes. Now-a-days 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 DAR. [Smiling.] Oh, anything is better than being sacrificed!
LADY WIN. [Leaning forward.] Don't say that.
LORD DAR. I do say it. I feel it- I know it.
-
[Enter Parker C.]
-
PAR. The men want to know if they are to put the carpets on the
terrace for to-night, my lady?
LADY WIN. You don't think it will rain, Lord Darlington, do you?
LORD DAR. I won't hear of its raining on your birthday!
LADY WIN. Tell them to do it at once, Parker. [Exit Parker C.]
LORD DAR. [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 WIN. [Frowning.] Console herself?
LORD DAR. Yes, I think she should- I think she has the right.
LADY WIN. Because the husband is vile- should the wife be vile
also?
LORD DAR. Vileness is a terrible word, Lady Windermere.
LADY WIN. It is a terrible thing, Lord Darlington.
LORD DAR. 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 WIN. 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 DAR. [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, now-a-days,
are rather mercenary.
LADY WIN. Don't talk about such people.
LORD DAR. Well then, setting mercenary people aside, 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 WIN. [Standing at table.] I think they should never be
forgiven.
LORD DAR. And men? Do you think that there should be the same laws
for men as there are for women?
LADY WIN. Certainly!
LORD DAR. I think life too complex a thing to be settled by these
hard and fast rules.
LADY WIN. If we had "these hard and fast rules," we should find
life much more simple.
LORD DAR. You allow of no exceptions?
LADY WIN. None!
LORD DAR. Ah, what a fascinating Puritan you are, Lady Windermere!
LADY WIN. The adjective was unnecessary, Lord Darlington.
LORD DAR. I couldn't help it. I can resist everything except
temptation.
LADY WIN. You have the modern affectation of weakness.
LORD DAR. [Looking at her.] It's only an affectation, Lady
Windermere. [Enter Parker C.]
PAR. The Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle.
-
[Enter the Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle C.]
-
[Exit Parker C.]
DUCH. [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 DAR. 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.
DUCH. 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 WIN. [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 DAR. [Standing L. C.] Very small, very early, and very select,
Duchess.
DUCH. [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 poor 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 WIN. I will, Duchess. I will have no one in my house about
whom there is any scandal.
LORD DAR. [R. C.] Oh, don't say that, Lady Windermere. I should
never be admitted! [Sitting.]
DUCH. 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 DAR. 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.
DUCH. The odd trick? Is that the husband, Lord Darlington?
LORD DAR. It would be rather a good name for the modern husband.
DUCH. Dear Lord Darlington, how thoroughly depraved you are!
LADY WIN. Lord Darlington is trivial.
LORD DAR. Ah, don't say that, Lady Windermere.
LADY WIN. Why do you talk so trivially about life, then?
LORD DAR. Because I think that life is far too important a thing
ever to talk seriously about it. [Moves up C.]
DUCH. What does he mean? Do, as a concession to my poor wits, Lord
Darlington, just explain to me what you really mean?
LORD DAR. [Coming down back of table.] I think I had better not,
Duchess. Now-a-days 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 WIN. [Standing up stage with Lord Darlington.] Yes, certainly.
But you are not to say foolish insincere things to people.
LORD DAR. [Smiling.] Ah! you are beginning to reform me. It is a
dangerous thing to reform any one, Lady Windermere.
[Bows, and exit C.]
DUCH. [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 AGA. Yes mama. [Rises.]
DUCH. Will you go and look over the photograph album that I see
there?
LADY AGA. Yes, mama. [Goes to table L.]
DUCH. 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 WIN. [Smiling.] Why, Duchess?
DUCH. 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 inadmissable 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 WIN. Whom are you talking about, Duchess?
DUCH. About Mrs. Erlynne.
LADY WIN. Mrs. Erlynne? I never heard of her, Duchess. And what has
she to do with me?
DUCH. My poor child! Agatha, darling!
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. Will you go out on the terrace and look at the sunset?
LADY AGA. Yes, mama. [Exit through window L.]
DUCH. Sweet girl! So devoted to sunsets! Shows such refinement of
feeling, does it not? After all, there is nothing like nature,
is there?
LADY WIN. But what is it, Duchess? Why do you talk to me about this
person?
DUCH. Don't you really know? I assure you we're all so distressed
about it. Only last night at dear Lady Fansen's every one was
saying how extraordinary it was that, of all men in London,
Windermere should behave in such a way.
LADY WIN. My husband- what has he got to do with any woman of that
kind?
DUCH. 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 in particular, 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 pony in the Park every afternoon, and all- well all-
since she has known poor dear Windermere.
LADY WIN. Oh, I can't believe it!
DUCH. 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 WIN. [Interrupting.] Duchess, Duchess, it's impossible!
[Rising and crossing stage C.] We are only married two years.
Our child is but six months old. [Sits in chair R. of L. table.]
DUCH. 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 WIN. Are all men bad?
DUCH. 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 WIN. Windermere and I married for love.
DUCH. 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 WIN. Come back to me? [C.]
DUCH. [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 WIN. 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.
DUCH. 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 WIN. You needn't be afraid, Duchess, I never cry.
DUCH. That's quite right, dear. Crying is the refuge of plain
women, but the ruin of pretty ones. Agatha, darling!
LADY AGA. [Entering L.] Yes, mama. [Stands back of table L. C.]
DUCH. 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 WIN. 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 drawer.
As she 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- L600- Mrs. Erlynne-
L700- Mrs. Erlynne- L400. Oh! it is true! it is true! How
horrible! [Throws book on floor.]
-
[Enter Lord Windermere C.]
-
LORD WIN. 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 WIN. You think it wrong that you are found out, don't you?
LORD WIN. I think it wrong that a wife should spy on her husband.
LADY WIN. 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 WIN. Margaret, don't talk like that of Mrs. Erlynne, you don't
know how unjust it is!
LADY WIN. [Turning to him.] You are very jealous of Mrs. Erlynne's
honour. I wish you had been as jealous of mine.
LORD WIN. Your honour is untouched, Margaret. You don't think for a
moment that- [Puts book back into desk.]
LADY WIN. 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 seem to me now- every kiss you have given me is tainted
in my memory.
LORD WIN. [Crossing to her.] Don't say that, Margaret. I never
loved any one in the whole world but you.
LADY WIN. [Rises.] Who is this woman, then? Why do you take a house
for her?
LORD WIN. I did not take a house for her.
LADY WIN. You gave her the money to do it, which is the same thing.
LORD WIN. Margaret, as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne-
LADY WIN. Is there a Mr. Erlynne- or is he a myth?
LORD WIN. Her husband died many years ago. She is alone in the
world.
LADY WIN. No relations? [A pause.]
LORD WIN. None.
LADY WIN. Rather curious, isn't it? [L.]
LORD WIN. [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 WIN. Oh! [Crossing R. C.] I don't want details about her life.
LORD WIN. 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 a 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 WIN. 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 WIN. Margaret, you could save this woman. She wants to get
back into society, and she wants you to help her. [Crossing to
her.]
LADY WIN. Me!
LORD WIN. Yes, you.
LADY WIN. How impertinent of her! [A pause.]
LORD WIN. 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 WIN. You are mad! [Rises.]
LORD WIN. 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 now-a-days do go. That does not
content her. She wants you to receive her once.
LADY WIN. As a triumph for her, I suppose?
LORD WIN. No; but because she knows that you are a good woman- and
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 WIN. No! If a woman really repents, she never wishes to return
to the society that has made or seen her ruin.
LORD WIN. I beg of you.
LADY WIN. [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 WIN. [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 WIN. [R. C.] I shall do nothing of the kind. [Crossing L. C.]
LORD WIN. You refuse? [C.]
LADY WIN. Absolutely!
LORD WIN. Ah, Margaret, do this for my sake; it is her last chance.
LADY WIN. What has that to do with me?
LORD WIN. How hard good women are!
LADY WIN. How weak bad men are!
LORD WIN. 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 WIN. Why should you be different from other men? I am told
there is hardly a husband in London who does not waste his life
over some shameful passion.
LORD WIN. I am not one of them.
LADY WIN. I am not sure of that!
LORD WIN. 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 WIN. Nothing in the whole world would induce me.
LORD WIN. [Crossing to the bureau.] Then I will. [Rings electric
bell, sits and writes card.]
LADY WIN. You are going to invite this woman? [Crossing to him.]
LORD WIN. Yes.
-
[Pause. Enter Parker.]
-
Parker!
PAR. Yes, my lord. [Comes down L. C.]
LORD WIN. 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 WIN. Arthur, if that woman comes here, I shall insult her.
LORD WIN. Margaret, don't say that.
LADY WIN. I mean it.
LORD WIN. Child, if you did such a thing, there's not a woman in
London who wouldn't pity you.
LADY WIN. 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 WIN. Margaret, you couldn't do such a thing.
LADY WIN. You don't know me! [Moves R.]
-
[Enter Parker.]
-
Parker!
PAR. Yes, my lady.
LADY WIN. I shall dine in my own room. I don't want any 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?
PAR. Yes, my lady.
LADY WIN. That will do! [Exit Parker C.]
[Speaking to Lord Windermere.] Arthur, if that woman comes here-
I warn you-
LORD WIN. Margaret, you will ruin us!
LADY WIN. 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 WIN. I will not- I cannot- she must come!
LADY WIN. Then I shall do exactly as I have said. [Goes R.] You
leave me no choice. [Exit R.]
LORD WIN. [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 an illuminated terrace. Palms, flowers, and brilliant
lights. Room crowded with guests. Lady Windermere is
receiving them.
-
DUCH. [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 AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. [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 must
pass on the terrace with Mr. Hopper.
-
[Enter Mr. Dumby and Lady Plymdale from the ball-room.]
-
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. [Fanning herself.] The air is so pleasant there.
PAR. Mrs. Cowper-Cowper. Lady Stutfield. Sir James Royston. Mr. Guy
Berkeley.
-
[These people enter as announced.]
-
DUM. Good evening, Lady Stutfield. I suppose this will be the last
ball of the season?
LADY STU. I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It's been a delightful season,
hasn't it?
DUM. Quite delightful! Good evening, Duchess. I suppose this will
be the last ball of the season?
DUCH. I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It has been a very dull season,
hasn't it?
DUM. Dreadfully dull! Dreadfully dull!
MRS. COW. Good evening, Mr. Dumby. I suppose this will be the last
ball of the season?
DUM. Oh, I think not. There'll probably be two more. [Wanders back
to Lady Plymdale.]
PAR. Mr. Rufford. Lady Jedburgh and Miss Graham. Mr. Hopper.
-
[These people enter as announced.]
-
HOP. How do you do, Lady Windermere? How do you do, Duchess? [Bows
to Lady Agatha.]
DUCH. Dear Mr. Hopper, how nice of you to come so early. We all
know how you are run after in London.
HOP. Capital place, London! They are not nearly so exclusive in
London as they are in Sydney.
DUCH. 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?
HOP. Wasn't it made at the same time as the others, Duchess?
DUCH. How clever you are, Mr. Hopper. You have a cleverness quite
of your own. Now I mustn't keep you.
HOP. But I should like to dance with Lady Agatha, Duchess.
DUCH. Well, I hope she has a dance left. Have you got a dance left
Agatha?
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. The next one?
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
HOP. May I have the pleasure? [Lady Agatha bows.]
DUCH. Mind you take great care of my little chatterbox, Mr. Hopper.
-
[Lady Agatha and Mr. Hopper pass into ball-room.]
[Enter Lord Windermere L.]
-
LORD WIN. Margaret, I want to speak to you.
LADY WIN. In a moment. [The music stops.]
PAR. Lord Augustus Lorton.
-
[Enter Lord Augustus.]
-
LORD AUG. Good evening, Lady Windermere.
DUCH. 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.]
-
PAR. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bowden. Lord and Lady Paisley. Lord
Darlington.
-
[These people enter as announced.]
-
LORD AUG. [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 WIN. You are talking of Mrs. Erlynne, I suppose? I only met
her six months ago. Till then I never knew of her existence.
LORD AUG. You have seen a good deal of her since then.
LORD WIN. [Coldly.] Yes, I have seen a good deal of her since then.
I have just seen her.
LORD AUG. 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 WIN. No explanations are necessary about my friendship with
Mrs. Erlynne.
LORD AUG. 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 WIN. Mrs. Erlynne is coming here to-night.
LORD AUG. Your wife has sent her a card?
LORD WIN. Mrs. Erlynne has received a card.
LORD AUG. 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.]
-
PAR. Mr. Cecil Graham!
-
[Enter Mr. Cecil Graham.]
-
CEC. [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. Hullo, Tuppy! Hear you are going to be married
again; thought you were tired of that game.
LORD AUG. You're excessively trivial, my dear boy, excessively
trivial!
CEC. 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 AUG. I have a very bad memory. I really don't remember which.
[Moves away R.]
LADY PLY. Lord Windermere, I've something most particular to ask
you.
LORD WIN. I am afraid- if you will excuse me- I must join my wife.
LADY PLY. Oh, you mustn't dream of such a thing. It's most
dangerous now-a-days 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 toward door of ball-room.]
LORD WIN. [C.] Margaret, I must speak to you.
LADY WIN. Will you hold my fan for me, Lord Darlington? Thanks.
[Comes down to him.]
LORD WIN. [Crossing to her.] Margaret, what you said before dinner
was, of course, impossible?
LADY WIN. That woman is not coming here to-night!
LORD WIN. [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 WIN. [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 DAR. Lady Windermere! I knew the time would come some day; but
why to-night?
LORD WIN. I will tell her. I must. It would be terrible if there
were any scene. Margaret....
PAR. 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 floor. She
bows coldly to Mrs. Erlynne, who bows to her sweetly in
turn, and sails into the room.]
-
LORD DAR. You have dropped your fan, Lady Windermere. [Picks it up
and hands it to her.]
MRS. ERL. [C.] How do you do again, Lord Windermere? How charming
your sweet wife looks! Quite a picture!
LORD WIN. [In a low, voice.] It was terribly rash of you to come!
MRS. ERL. [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. Everyone told
me so.
LORD AUG. [R.] Now really, Mrs. Erlynne, allow me to explain.
MRS. ERL. [R. C.] No, dear Lord Augustus, you can't explain
anything. It is your chief charm.
LORD AUG. Ah, if you find charm in me, Mrs. Erlynne-
-
[They converse together. Lord Windermere moves uneasily
about the room, watching Mrs. Erlynne.]
-
LORD DAR. [To Lady Windermere.] How pale you are!
LADY WIN. Cowards are always pale.
LORD DAR. You look faint. Come out on the terrace.
LADY WIN. Yes. [To Parker.] Parker, send my cloak out.
MRS. ERL. [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.
CEC. [After a moment's hesitation and embarrassment.]
Oh, certainly, if you wish it. Aunt Caroline, allow me to
introduce Mrs. Erlynne.
MRS. ERL. 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 now-a-days. 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 JED. [R.] Most kind of you to say these charming things to me!
[Mrs. Erlynne smiles and continues conversation.]
DUM. [To Cecil Graham.] Did you introduce Mrs. Erlynne to Lady
Jedburgh?
CEC. Had to, my dear fellow. Couldn't help it. That woman can make
one do anything she wants. How, I don't know.
DUM. Hope to goodness she won't speak to me!
-
[Saunters towards Lady Plymdale.]
-
MRS. ERL. [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 PLY. [To Mr. Dumby.] Who is that well-dressed woman talking to
Windermere?
DUM. Haven't got the slightest idea. Looks like an edition de luxe
of a wicked French novel, meant specially for the English
market.
MRS. ERL. 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 AUG. [With a low bow.] I wish I could think so, Mrs. Erlynne.
MRS. ERL. You know it far too well. I fancy a person dancing
through life with you and finding it charming.
LORD AUG. [Placing his hand on his white waistcoat.] Oh, thank you,
thank you. You are the most adorable of all ladies!
MRS. ERL. 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 sorry I have been out the last three times you
have called. Come and lunch on Friday.
DUM. [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 PLY. [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?
DUM. My dear Laura, I wouldn't dream of going!
LADY PLY. You haven't told me her name yet! Who is she?
DUM. [Coughs slightly and smoothes his hair.] She's a Mrs. Erlynne.
LADY PLY. That woman?
DUM. Yes, that is what every one calls her.
LADY PLY. 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 thoroughly stupid things.
You are to lunch there on Friday!
DUM. Why?
LADY PLY. 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.
DUM. What a mystery you are!
LADY PLY. [Looking at him.] I wish you were!
DUM. 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 WIN. 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 DAR. 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 WIN. 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 DAR. 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 WIN. 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 DAR. Between men and women, there is no friendship possible.
There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship. I
love you-
LADY WIN. No, no! [Rises.]
LORD DAR. 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 WIN. Lord Darlington!
LORD DAR. 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 good 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 WIN. [Moving slowly away from him, and looking at him with
startled eyes.] I have not the courage.
LORD DAR. [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 WIN. I am afraid of being myself. Let me think! Let me wait!
My husband may return to me. [Sits down on sofa.]
LORD DAR. 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 WIN. Ah, give me time to think. I cannot answer you now.
[Passes her hand nervously over her brow.]
LORD DAR. It must be now or not at all.
LADY WIN. [Rising from the sofa.] Then not at all. [A pause.]
LORD DAR. You break my heart!
LADY WIN. Mine is already broken. [A pause.]
LORD DAR. 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 to touch
again. Good-bye, Margaret. [Exit.]
LADY WIN. 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 the
ball-room.]
-
DUCH. 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
of 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 the terrace L. U. E.]
Mr. Hopper, I am very angry with you. You have taken Agatha out
on the terrace, and she is so delicate.
HOP. [L. C.] Awfully, sorry, Duchess. We went out for a moment and
then got chatting together.
DUCH. [C.] Ah, about dear Australia, I suppose?
HOP. Yes.
DUCH. Agatha, darling! [Beckons her over.]
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. [Aside.] Did Mr. Hopper definitely-
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. And what answer did you give him, dear child?
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. [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.
HOP. You don't mind my taking Agatha off to Australia, then,
Duchess?
DUCH. [Indignantly.] To Australia? Oh! don't mention that dreadful
vulgar place.
HOP. But she said she'd like to come with me.
DUCH. [Severely.] Did you say that, Agatha?
LADY AGA. Yes, mama.
DUCH. 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.
HOP. I should like to have a chat with the Duke, Duchess. He has
not said a single word to me yet.
DUCH. 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 WIN. Good-night, Duchess.
[Exit the Duchess of Berwick on Lord Paisley's arm.]
LADY PLY. 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 WIN. No!
LADY PLY. Really? Good-night, dear. [Looks at Mr. Dumby, and exit.]
DUM. Awful manners young Hopper has.
CEC. Ah! Hopper is one of Nature's gentlemen, the worst type of
gentleman I know.
DUM. Sensible woman, Lady Windermere. Lots of wives would have
objected to Mrs. Erlynne coming. But Lady Windermere has that
uncommon thing called common sense.
CEC. And Windermere knows that nothing looks so like innocence as
an indiscretion.
DUM. Yes; dear Windermere is becoming almost modern. Never thought
he would. [Bows to Lady Windermere, and exit.]
LADY JED. 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 WIN. I am afraid I am engaged, Lady Jedburgh.
LADY JED. So sorry. Come, dear.
[Exeunt Lady Jedburgh and Miss Graham.]
-
[Enter Mrs. Erlynne and Lord Windermere.]
-
MRS. ERL. Charming ball it has been! Quite reminds me of old days.
[Sits on the 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' sister-in-law-
LORD WIN. [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. ERL. 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'm 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 WIN. I am not called upon to encourage Lord Augustus, I
suppose?
MRS. ERL. Oh, no! I do the encouraging. But you will make me a
handsome settlement, Windermere, won't you?
LORD WIN. [Frowning.] Is that what you want to talk to me about
to-night?
MRS. ERL. Yes.
LORD WIN. [With a gesture of impatience.] I will not talk of it
here.
MRS. ERL. [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 WIN. Won't to-morrow do as well?
MRS. ERL. 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-
well, what shall I say?- L2,000 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 L2,000? L2,500, 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 WIN. 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. ERL. Is Lady Windermere in the ball-room?
PAR. Her ladyship has just gone out.
MRS. ERL. Gone out? She's not on the terrace?
PAR. No, madam. Her ladyship has just gone out of the house.
MRS. ERL. [Starts, and looks at the servant with a puzzled
expression on her face.] Out of the house?
PAR. Yes, madam- her ladyship told me she had left a letter for his
lordship on the table.
MRS. ERL. A letter for Lord Windermere?
PAR. Yes, madam.
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. Have you said good-night to my wife? [Comes C.]
MRS. ERL. [Crushing letter in her hand.] Yes.
LORD WIN. Where is she?
MRS. ERL. She is very tired. She has gone to bed. She said she had
a headache.
LORD WIN. I must go to her. You'll excuse me?
MRS. ERL. [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 WIN. [Picks up letter.] You have dropped something.
MRS. ERL. Oh yes, thank you, that is mine. [Puts out her hand to
take it.]
LORD WIN. [Still looking at letter.] But it's my wife's
handwriting, isn't it?
MRS. ERL. [Takes letter quickly.] Yes, it's- an address. Will you
ask them to call my carriage, please?
LORD WIN. Certainly. [Goes L. and exit.]
MRS. ERL. 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 AUG. Dear lady, I am in such suspense! May I not have an
answer to my request?
MRS. ERL. Lord Augustus, listen to me. You are to take Lord
Windermere down to the club at once, and keep him there as long
as possible. You understand?
LORD AUG. But you said you wished me to keep early hours!
MRS. ERL. [Nervously.] Do what I tell you. Do what I tell you.
LORD AUG. And my reward?
MRS. ERL. 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 AUG. 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 fire-place 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 WIN. [Standing by the fire-place.] 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 me, 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
blighted 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.]
-
[Enters Mrs. Erlynne L.]
-
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. Must?
MRS. ERL. [Authoritatively.] Yes, you must! There is not a second
to be lost. Lord Darlington may return at any moment.
LADY WIN. Don't come near me!
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. 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. ERL. Oh! You don't think that- you can't.
LADY WIN. 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. ERL. No- no-
LADY WIN. 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. ERL. [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 WIN. [R.] Never read it!
MRS. ERL. No- he knows nothing about it.
LADY WIN. How simple you think me! [Going to her.] You are lying to
me!
MRS. ERL. [Restraining herself.] I am not. I am telling you the
truth.
LADY WIN. 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. ERL. [R. C.] Your husband has never seen the letter. I- saw
it, I opened it. I- read it.
LADY WIN. [Turning to her.] You opened a letter of mine to my
husband. You wouldn't dare!
MRS. ERL. 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 fire-place.] It
should never have been written. [Tears it and throws it into the
fire.]
LADY WIN. [With infinite contempt in her voice and look.] How do I
know that was my letter after all? You seem to think the
commonest device can take me in!
MRS. ERL. 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 consequences of a hideous
mistake? That letter that is burning now was your letter. I
swear it to you!
LADY WIN. [Slowly.] You took good care to burn it before I had
examined it. I cannot trust you. You, whose whole life is a lie,
how could you speak the truth about anything? [Sits down.]
MRS. ERL. [Hurriedly.] Think as you like about me- say what you
choose against me, but go back, go back to the husband you love.
LADY WIN. [Sullenly.] I do not love him!
MRS. ERL. You do, and you know that he loves you.
LADY WIN. 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. ERL. [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 WIN. [Rising.] Ah! you admit you have a hold!
MRS. ERL. Yes, and I will tell you what it is. It is his love for
you, Lady Windermere.
LADY WIN. You expect me to believe that?
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. What do you mean? You are insolent! What have I to do
with you?
MRS. ERL. [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 WIN. Arthur? And you tell me there is nothing between you?
MRS. ERL. Lady Windermere, before Heaven your husband is guiltless
of all offense 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 WIN. 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. ERL. [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 our 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 WIN. [Holding out her hands to her, helplessly, as a child
might do.] Take me home. Take me home.
MRS. ERL. [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 WIN. Stop! Don't you hear voices?
MRS. ERL. No, no! There is no one!
LADY WIN. 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. ERL. Silence! I am 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 WIN. But you!
MRS. ERL. Oh! never mind me. I'll face them.
-
[Lady Windermere hides herself behind the curtain.]
-
LORD AUG. [Outside.] Nonsense, dear Windermere, you must not leave
me!
MRS. ERL. Lord Augustus! Then it is I who am lost! [Hesitates for a
moment, then looks round and sees door, R., and exit through it.]
-
[Enter Lord Darlington, Mr. Dumby, Lord Windermere, Lord
Augustus Lorton, and Mr. Cecil Graham.]
-
DUM. 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 WIN. 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 DAR. Really! I am so sorry! You'll take a cigar, won't you?
LORD WIN. Thanks! [Sits down.]
LORD AUG. [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.]
CEC. Oh! We all know what that is! Tuppy can't talk about anything
but Mrs. Erlynne!
LORD WIN. Well, that is no business of yours, is it, Cecil?
CEC. None. That is why it interests me. My own business always
bores me to death. I prefer other people's.
LORD DAR. Have something to drink, you fellows. Cecil, you'll have
a whisky and soda?
CEC. Thanks. [Goes to the table with Lord Darlington.] Mrs. Erlynne
looked very handsome to-night, didn't she?
LORD DAR. I am not one of her admirers.
CEC. 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 DAR. [In surprise.] No?
CEC. She is, really.
LORD DAR. 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.]
DUM. Clever woman, Mrs. Erlynne.
CEC. Hallo, Dumby! I thought you were asleep.
DUM. I am, I usually am!
LORD AUG. 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.
DUM. It is an awfully dangerous thing. They always end by marrying
one.
CEC. 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 AUG. Oh, she's explained that.
CEC. And the Wiesbaden affair?
LORD AUG. She's explained that too.
DUM. And her income, Tuppy? Has she explained that?
LORD AUG. [In a very serious voice.] She's going to explain that
to-morrow.
-
[Cecil Graham goes back to C. table.]
-
DUM. Awfully commercial, women now-a-days. 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 AUG. You want to make her out a wicked woman. She is not!
CEC. Oh! Wicked women bother one. Good women bore one. That is the
only difference between them.
LORD AUG. [Puffing a cigar.] Mrs. Erlynne has a future before her.
DUM. Mrs. Erlynne has a past before her.
LORD AUG. I prefer women with a past. They're always so demmed
amusing to talk to.
CEC. Well, you'll have lots of topics of conversation with her,
Tuppy. [Rising and going to him.]
LORD AUG. You're getting annoying, dear boy; you're getting demmed
annoying.
CEC. [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 AUG. My dear boy, if I wasn't the most good-natured man in
London-
CEC. We'd treat you with more respect, wouldn't we, Tuppy? [Strolls
away.]
DUM. The youth of the present day are quite monstrous. They have
absolutely no respect for dyed hair. [Lord Augustus looks round
angrily.]
CEC. Mrs. Erlynne has a very great respect for dear Tuppy.
DUM. Then Mrs. Erlynne sets an admirable example to the rest of her
sex. It is perfectly brutal the way most women now-a-days behave
to men who are not their husbands.
LORD WIN. 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.
CEC. [Coming towards him L. C.] My dear Arthur, I never talk
scandal. I only talk gossip.
LORD WIN. What is the difference between scandal and gossip?
CEC. Oh! gossip is charming! History is merely gossip.... But
scandal is gossip made tedious by morality. Now I never
moralize. 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 man as a Nonconformist
conscience. And most women know it, I'm glad to say.
LORD AUG. Just my sentiments, dear boy, just my sentiments.
CEC. Sorry to hear it, Tuppy; whenever people agree with me, I
always feel I must be wrong.
LORD AUG. My dear boy, when I was your age-
CEC. 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 WIN. No, thanks, Cecil.
DUM. [With a sigh.] Good heavens! how marriage ruins a man! It's as
demoralising as cigarettes, and far more expensive.
CEC. You'll play, of course, Tuppy?
LORD AUG. [Pouring himself out a brandy and soda at table.]
Can't, dear boy. Promised Mrs. Erlynne never to play or drink
again.
CEC. 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 DAR. [Rising from R. table, where he has been writing letters.]
They always do find us bad!
DUM. I don't think we are bad. I think we are all good except Tuppy.
LORD DAR. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking
at the stars. [Sits down at C. table.]
DUM. 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.
CEC. Too romantic! You must be in love. Who is the girl?
LORD DAR. The woman I love is not free, or thinks she isn't.
[Glances instinctively at Lord Windermere while he speaks.]
CEC. 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 DAR. Oh! she doesn't love me. She is a good woman. She is the
only good woman I have ever met in my life.
CEC. The only good woman you have ever met in your life?
LORD DAR. Yes!
CEC. [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 DAR. This woman has purity and innocence. She has everything
we men have lost.
CEC. 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.
DUM. She doesn't really love you then?
LORD DAR. No, she does not!
DUM. 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?
CEC. A woman who didn't love me? Oh, all my life!
DUM. So could I. But it's so difficult to meet one.
LORD DAR. How can you be so conceited, Dumby?
DUM. 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 AUG. [Looking round.] Time to educate yourself, I suppose.
DUM. No, time to forget all I have learned. That is much more
important, dear Tuppy. [Lord Augustus moves uneasily in his
chair.]
LORD DAR. What cynics you fellows are!
CEC. What is a cynic? [Sitting on the back of the sofa.]
LORD DAR. A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of
nothing.
CEC. 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 DAR. You always amuse me, Cecil. You talk as if you were a man
of experience.
CEC. I am. [Moves up to front of fireplace.]
LORD DAR. You are far too young!
CEC. 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.]
DUM. Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
CEC. [Standing with his back to fireplace.] One shouldn't commit
any. [Sees Lady Windermere's fan on sofa.]
DUM. Life would be very dull without them.
CEC. Of course you are quite faithful to this woman you are in love
with, Darlington, to this good woman?
LORD DAR. Cecil, if one really loves a woman, all other women in
the world become absolutely meaningless to one. Love changes
one- I am changed.
CEC. Dear me! How very interesting! Tuppy, I want to talk to you.
[Lord Augustus takes no notice.]
DUM. It's no use talking to Tuppy. You might just as well talk to a
brick wall.
CEC. But I like talking to a brick wall- it's the only thing in the
world that never contradicts me! Tuppy!
LORD AUG. Well, what is it? What is it? [Rising and going over to
Cecil Graham.]
CEC. 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 AUG. No, really! really!
CEC. [In a low voice.] Yes, here is her fan. [Points to her fan.]
LORD AUG. [Chuckling.] By Jove! By Jove!
LORD WIN. [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 DAR. [Up stage with Lord Windermere.] I am afraid I shall be
away for many years. Good-night!
CEC. Arthur!
LORD WIN. What?
CEC. I want to speak to you for a moment. No, do come!
LORD WIN. [Putting on his coat.] I can't- I'm off!
CEC. It is something very particular. It will interest you
enormously.
LORD WIN. [Smiling.] It is some of your nonsense, Cecil.
CEC. It isn't! It isn't really!
LORD AUG. [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 WIN. [Walking over.] Well, what is it?
CEC. Darlington has got a woman here in his rooms. Here is her fan.
Amusing, isn't it? [A pause.]
LORD WIN. Good God! [Seizes the fan- Dumby rises.]
CEC. What is the matter?
LORD WIN. Lord Darlington!
LORD DAR. [Turning round.] Yes!
LORD WIN. What is my wife's fan doing here in your rooms? Hands
off, Cecil. Don't touch me.
LORD DAR. Your wife's fan?
LORD WIN. Yes, here it is!
LORD DAR. [Walking towards him.] I don't know!
LORD WIN. You must know. I demand an explanation. Don't hold me,
you fool. [To Cecil Graham.]
LORD DAR. [Aside.] She is here after all!
LORD WIN. 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 DAR. You shall not search my rooms. You have no right to do
so. I forbid you!
LORD WIN. 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. ERL. [Enters behind R.] Lord Windermere!
LORD WIN. Mrs. Erlynne!
-
[Every one starts and turns round. Lady Windermere slips
out from behind the curtain and glides from the room L.]
-
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. [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. 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.]
-
ROS. Did your ladyship ring for me?
LADY WIN. Yes. Have you found out at what time Lord Windermere came
in last night?
ROS. His lordship did not come in till five o'clock.
LADY WIN. Five o'clock? He knocked at my door this morning, didn't
he?
ROS. Yes, my lady- at half-past nine. I told him your ladyship was
not awake yet.
LADY WIN. Did he say anything?
ROS. 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 WIN. It doesn't matter. Tell Parker not to trouble. That will
do. [Exit Rosalie.]
LADY WIN. [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 WIN. [Kisses her.] Margaret- how pale you look!
LADY WIN. I slept very badly.
LORD WIN. [Sitting on the sofa with her.] I am so sorry. I came in
dreadfully late, and didn't like to wake you. You are crying,
dear.
LADY WIN. Yes, I am crying, for I have something to tell you,
Arthur.
LORD WIN. 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 4:30. I'll send a wire to Fannen. [Crosses and
sits down at table to write a telegram.]
LADY WIN. 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 WIN. [Rising and leaning over sofa.] Kind to you?
LADY WIN. 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 WIN. 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 WIN. I don't. I know now I was wrong and foolish.
LORD WIN. It was very good of you to receive her last night- but
you are never to see her again.
LADY WIN. Why do you say that? [A pause.]
LORD WIN. [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 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 WIN. 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 WIN. My dear child, the woman's impossible. No matter what
harm she tries to do us, you must never see her again. She is
inadmissable anywhere.
LADY WIN. But I want to see her. I want her to come here.
LORD WIN. Never!
LADY WIN. She came here once as your guest. She must come now as
mine. That is but fair.
LORD WIN. She should never have come here.
LADY WIN. [Rising.] It is too late, Arthur, to say that now. [Moves
away.]
LORD WIN. [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 WIN. Arthur, I can't bear it any longer. I must tell you. Last
night-
-
[Enter Parker with a tray on which Lady Windermere's
fan and a card.]
-
PAR. 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 WIN. 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 WIN. [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 realize what
you're doing.
LADY WIN. It is right that I should see her.
LORD WIN. 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 WIN. Why should it be necessary?
-
[Enter Parker.]
-
PAR. Mrs. Erlynne.
-
[Enter Mrs. Erlynne.] [Exit Parker.]
-
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. Good-bye? [Moves towards sofa with Mrs. Erlynne and sits
down beside her.] Are you going away, then, Mrs. Erlynne?
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. This afternoon? But I wanted so much to come and see you.
MRS. ERL. How kind of you! But I am afraid I have to go.
LADY WIN. Shall I never see you again, Mrs. Erlynne?
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. Oh, with pleasure. There is one on that table. I'll show
it to you. [Goes across to the table.]
LORD WIN. [Coming up to Mrs. Erlynne and speaking in a low voice.]
It is monstrous your intruding yourself here after your conduct
last night.
MRS. ERL. [With an amused smile.] My dear Windermere, manners
before morals!
LADY WIN. [Returning.] I'm afraid it is very flattering- I am not
so pretty as that. [Showing photograph.]
MRS. ERL. You are much prettier. But haven't you got one of
yourself with your little boy?
LADY WIN. I have. Would you prefer one of those?
MRS. ERL. Yes.
LADY WIN. I'll go and get it for you, if you'll excuse me for a
moment. I have one upstairs.
MRS. ERL. So sorry, Lady Windermere, to give you so much trouble.
LADY WIN. [Moves to door R.] No trouble at all, Mrs, Erlynne.
MRS. ERL. 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 WIN. I can't bear to see you with her. Besides, you have not
told me the truth, Mrs. Erlynne.
MRS. ERL. I have not told her the truth, you mean.
LORD WIN. [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 to 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. ERL. Why do you say that?
LORD WIN. You made me get you an invitation to my wife's ball.
MRS. ERL. For my daughter's ball- yes.
LORD WIN. 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. ERL. Yes.
LORD WIN. [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. ERL. [Coldly.] My daughter, you mean.
LORD WIN. 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. ERL. [Rising.] Do you count that to his credit, Lord
Windermere- or to mine?
LORD WIN. To his, now that I know you.
MRS. ERL. Take care- you had better be careful.
LORD WIN. Oh, I am not going to mince words for you. I know you
thoroughly.
MRS. ERL. [Looking steadily at him.] I question that.
LORD WIN. 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. ERL. [Shrugging her shoulders.] Don't use ugly words,
Windermere. They are vulgar. I saw my chance, it is true, and
took it.
LORD WIN. Yes, you took it- and spoiled it all last night, by being
found out.
MRS. ERL. [With a strange smile.] You are quite right, I spoiled it
all last night.
LORD WIN. And as for your blunder in taking my wife's fan from her,
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. ERL. 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 WIN. I hope my wife will give it to you.
MRS. ERL. Oh, I'm sure she will have no objection.
LORD WIN. I wish 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. ERL. 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 WIN. What do you mean by coming here this morning? What is
your object? [Crossing L. C. and sitting.]
MRS. ERL. [With a note of irony in her voice.] To bid good-bye to
my dear daughter, of course. [Lord Windermere bites his underlip
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 WIN. You fill me with horror- with absolute horror.
MRS. ERL. [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 now-a-days 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 WIN. A fatal mistake.
MRS. ERL. [Smiling.] Almost fatal.
LORD WIN. I am sorry now I did not tell my wife the whole thing at
once.
MRS. ERL. I regret my bad actions. You regret your good ones- that
is the difference between us.
LORD WIN. 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. ERL. You propose to tell her?
LORD WIN. I am going to tell her.
MRS. ERL. [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 WIN. Why?
MRS. ERL. [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 WIN. I should feel it was not true. A mother's love means
devotion, unselfishness, sacrifice. What could you know of such
things?
MRS. ERL. 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 this house- if not, I shall never tell her.
LORD WIN. [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 WIN. 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. ERL. [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 WIN. Gerard, after my dear father.
MRS. ERL. [Laying the photograph down.] Really?
LADY WIN. 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. ERL. My name is Margaret, too.
LADY WIN. Indeed!
MRS. ERL. Yes. [Pause.] You are devoted to your mother's memory,
Lady Windermere, your husband tells me.
LADY WIN. We all have ideals in life. At least we all should have.
Mine is my mother.
MRS. ERL. Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They
wound, but they are better.
LADY WIN. [Shaking her head.] If I lost my ideals, I should lose
everything.
MRS. ERL. Everything?
LADY WIN. Yes. [Pause.]
MRS. ERL. Did your father often speak to you of your mother?
LADY WIN. |
|
