Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works. Knowledge house
regret my tedious journey from Vienna now. It has been a great success. But, of course, for the next twenty-four hours the whole thing is a dead secret.
lady chiltern
[Gently.] A secret? Between whom?
·48· mrs. cheveley
[With a flash of amusement in her eyes.] Between your husband and myself.
sir robert chiltern
[Entering.] Your carriage is here, Mrs. Cheveley!
mrs. cheveley
Thanks! Good evening, Lady Chiltern! Good-night, Lord Goring! I am at Claridge’s. Don’t you think you might leave a card?
lord goring
If you wish it, Mrs. Cheveley!
mrs. cheveley
Oh, don’t be so solemn about it, or I shall be obliged to leave a card on you. In England I suppose that would be hardly considered en règle. Abroad, we are more civilized. Will you see me down, Sir Robert? Now that we have both the same interests at heart we shall be great friends, I hope!
[Sails out on Sir Robert Chiltern’s arm. Lady Chiltern goes to the top of the staircase and looks down at them as they descend. Her expression is troubled. After a little time she is joined by some of the guests, and passes with them into another reception-room.]
·49· mabel chiltern
What a horrid woman!
lord goring
You should go to bed, Miss Mabel.
mabel chiltern
Lord Goring!
lord goring
My father told me to go to bed an hour ago. I don’t see why I shouldn’t give you the same advice. I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.
mabel chiltern
Lord Goring, you are always ordering me out of the room. I think it most courageous of you. Especially as I am not going to bed for hours. [Goes over to the sofa.] You can come and sit down if you like, and talk about anything in the world, except the Royal Academy, Mrs. Cheveley, or novels in Scotch dialect. They are not improving subjects. [Catches sight of something that is lying on the sofa half-hidden by the cushion.] What is this? Some one has dropped a diamond brooch! Quite beautiful, isn’t it? [Shows it to him.] I wish it was mine, but Gertrude won’t let me wear anything but pearls, and I am thoroughly sick of pearls. ·50· They make one look so plain, so good and so intellectual. I wonder whom the brooch belongs to.
lord goring
I wonder who dropped it.
mabel chiltern
It is a beautiful brooch.
lord goring
It is a handsome bracelet.
mabel chiltern
It isn’t a bracelet. It’s a brooch.
lord goring
It can be used as a bracelet. [Takes it from her, and, pulling out a green letter-case, puts the ornament carefully in it, and replaces the whole thing in his breast-pocket with the most perfect sangfroid.]
mabel chiltern
What are you doing?
lord goring
Miss Mabel, I am going to make a rather strange request to you.
·51· mabel chiltern
[Eagerly.] Oh, pray do! I have been waiting for it all the evening.
lord goring
[Is a little taken aback, but recovers himself.] Don’t mention to anybody that I have taken charge of this brooch. Should anyone write and claim it, let me know at once.
mabel chiltern
That is a strange request.
lord goring
Well, you see I gave this brooch to somebody once, years ago.
mabel chiltern
You did?
lord goring
Yes.
[Lady Chiltern enters alone. The other guests have gone.]
mabel chiltern
Then I shall certainly bid you good-night. Good-night, Gertrude! [Exit.]
·52· lady chiltern
Good-night, dear! [To Lord Goring.] You saw whom Lady Markby brought here to-night.
lord goring
Yes. It was an unpleasant surprise. What did she come here for?
lady chiltern
Apparently to try and lure Robert to uphold some fraudulent scheme in which she is interested. The Argentine Canal, in fact.
lord goring
She has mistaken her man, hasn’t she?
lady chiltern
She is incapable of understanding an upright nature like my husband’s!
lord goring
Yes. I should fancy she came to grief if she tried to get Robert into her toils. It is extraordinary what astounding mistakes clever women make.
lady chiltern
I don’t call women of that kind clever. I call them stupid!
·53· lord goring
Same thing often. Good-night, Lady Chiltern!
lady chiltern
Good-night!
[Enter Sir Robert Chiltern.]
sir robert chiltern
My dear Arthur, you are not going? Do stop a little!
lord goring
Afraid I can’t, thanks. I have promised to look in at the Hartlocks. I believe they have got a mauve Hungarian band that plays mauve Hungarian music. See you soon. Good-bye! [Exit]
sir robert chiltern
How beautiful you look to-night, Gertrude!
lady chiltern
Robert, it is not true, is it? You are not going to lend your support to this Argentine speculation? You couldn’t!
sir robert chiltern
[Starting.] Who told you I intended to do so?
·54· lady chiltern
That woman who has just gone out, Mrs. Cheveley, as she calls herself now. She seemed to taunt me with it. Robert, I know this woman. You don’t. We were at school together. She was untruthful, dishonest, an evil influence on everyone whose trust or friendship she could win. I hated, I despised her. She stole things, she was a thief. She was sent away for being a thief. Why do you let her influence you?
sir robert chiltern
Gertrude, what you tell me may be true, but it happened many years ago. It is best forgotten! Mrs. Cheveley may have changed since then. No one should be entirely judged by their past.
lady chiltern
[Sadly.] One’s past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged.
sir robert chiltern
That is a hard saying, Gertrude!
lady