Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works. Knowledge house
Hester!
hester
[Waving him back.] Don’t, don’t! You cannot love me at all, unless you love her also. You ·138· cannot honour me, unless she’s holier to you. In her all womanhood is martyred. Not she alone, but all of us are stricken in her house.
gerald
Hester, Hester, what shall I do?
hester
Do you respect the man who is your father?
gerald
Respect him? I despise him! He is infamous!
hester
I thank you for saving me from him last night.
gerald
Ah, that is nothing. I would die to save you. But you don’t tell me what to do now!
hester
Have I not thanked you for saving me?
gerald
But what should I do?
hester
Ask your own heart, not mine. I never had a mother to save, or shame.
·139· mrs. arbuthnot
He is hard—he is hard. Let me go away.
gerald
[Rushes over and kneels down beside his mother.] Mother, forgive me: I have been to blame.
mrs. arbuthnot
Don’t kiss my hands: they are cold. My heart is cold: something has broken it.
hester
Ah, don’t say that. Hearts live by being wounded. Pleasure may turn a heart to stone, riches may make it callous, but sorrow—oh, sorrow cannot break it. Besides, what sorrows have you now? Why, at this moment you are more dear to him than ever, dear though you have been, and oh! how dear you have been always. Ah! be kind to him.
gerald
You are my mother and my father all in one. I need no second parent. It was for you I spoke, for you alone. Oh, say something, mother. Have I but found one love to lose another? Don’t tell me that. O mother, you are cruel. [Gets up and flings himself sobbing on a sofa.]
mrs. arbuthnot
[To Hester.] But has he found indeed another love?
·140· hester
You know I have loved him always.
mrs. arbuthnot
But we are very poor.
hester
Who, being loved, is poor? Oh, no one. I hate my riches. They are a burden. Let him share it with me.
mrs. arbuthnot
But we are disgraced. We rank among the outcasts. Gerald is nameless. The sins of the parents should be visited on the children. It is God’s law.
hester
I was wrong. God’s law is only Love.
mrs. arbuthnot
[Rises, and taking Hester by the hand, goes slowly over to where Gerald is lying on the sofa with his head buried in his hands. She touches him and he looks up.] Gerald, I cannot give you a father, but I have brought you a wife.
gerald
Mother, I am not worthy either of her or you.
mrs. arbuthnot
So she comes first, you are worthy. And when ·141· you are away, Gerald … with … her—oh, think of me sometimes. Don’t forget me. And when you pray, pray for me. We should pray when we are happiest, and you will be happy, Gerald.
hester
Oh, you don’t think of leaving us?
gerald
Mother, you won’t leave us?
mrs. arbuthnot
I might bring shame upon you!
gerald
Mother!
mrs. arbuthnot
For a little then: and if you let me, near you always.
hester
[To Mrs. Arbuthnot.] Come out with us to the garden.
mrs. arbuthnot
Later on, later on.
[Exeunt Hester and Gerald.]
[Mrs. Arbuthnot goes towards door L.C. Stops at looking-glass over mantlepiece and looks into it.]
[Enter Alice R.C.]
·142· alice
A gentleman to see you, ma’am.
mrs. arbuthnot
Say I am not at home. Show me the card. [Takes card from salver and looks at it.] Say I will not see him.
[Lord Illingworth enters. Mrs. Arbuthnot sees him in the glass and starts, but does not turn round. Exit Alice.]
What can you have to say to me to-day, George Harford? You can have nothing to say to me. You must leave this house.
lord illingworth
Rachel, Gerald knows everything about you and me now, so some arrangement must be come to that will suit us all three. I assure you, he will find in me the most charming and generous of fathers.
mrs. arbuthnot
My son may come in at any moment. I saved you last night. I may not be able to save you again. My son feels my dishonour strongly, terribly strongly. I beg you to go.
lord illingworth
[Sitting down.] Last night was excessively unfortunate. That silly Puritan girl making a scene merely because I wanted to kiss her. What harm is there in a kiss?
·143· mrs. arbuthnot
[Turning round.] A kiss may ruin a human life, George Harford. I know that. I know that too well.
lord illingworth
We won’t discuss that at present. What is of importance to-day, as yesterday, is still our son. I am extremely fond of him, as you know, and odd though it may seem to you, I admired his conduct last night immensely. He took up the cudgels for that pretty prude with wonderful promptitude. He is just what I should have liked a son of mine to be. Except that no son of mine should ever take the side of the Puritans: that is always an error. Now, what I propose is this.
mrs. arbuthnot
Lord Illingworth, no proposition of yours interests me.
lord illingworth
According to our ridiculous English laws, I can’t legitimise Gerald. But I can leave him my property. Illingworth is entailed, of course, but it is a tedious barrack of a place. He can have Ashby, which is much prettier, Harborough which has the best shooting in the north of England, and the house in St. James Square. What more can a gentleman desire in this world?
·144· mrs. arbuthnot
Nothing more, I am quite sure.
lord illingworth
As for a title, a title is really rather a nuisance in these democratic days. As George Harford I had everything I wanted. Now I have merely everything that other people want, which isn’t nearly so pleasant. Well, my proposal is this.
mrs. arbuthnot