A to Z Classics - Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde (Best Navigation) (A to Z Classics)

I have nothing more to say.

lady chiltern

Robert, it was not Mrs. Cheveley whom Lord Goring expected last night.

sir robert chiltern

Not Mrs. Cheveley! Who was it then?

lord goring

Lady Chiltern!

lady chiltern

It was your own wife. Robert, yesterday afternoon Lord Goring told me that if ever I was in trouble I could come to him for help, as he was our oldest and best friend. Later on, after that terrible scene in this room, I wrote to him telling him that I trusted him, that I had need of him, that I was coming to him for help and advice. [ Sir Robert Chiltern takes the letter out of his pocket .] Yes, that letter. I didn’t go to Lord Goring’s, after all. I felt that it is from ourselves alone that help ·210· can come. Pride made me think that. Mrs. Cheveley went. She stole my letter and sent it anonymously to you this morning, that you should think … Oh! Robert, I cannot tell you what she wished you to think….

sir robert chiltern

What! Had I fallen so low in your eyes that you thought that even for a moment I could have doubted your goodness? Gertrude, Gertrude, you are to me the white image of all good things, and sin can never touch you. Arthur, you can go to Mabel, and you have my best wishes! Oh! stop a moment. There is no name at the beginning of this letter. The brilliant Mrs. Cheveley does not seem to have noticed that. There should be a name.

lady chiltern

Let me write yours. It is you I trust and need. You and none else.

lord goring

Well, really, Lady Chiltern, I think I should have back my own letter.

lady chiltern

[ Smiling .] No; you shall have Mabel. [ Takes the letter and writes her husband’s name on it .]

·211· lord goring

Well, I hope she hasn’t changed her mind. It’s nearly twenty minutes since I saw her last.

[ Enter Mabel Chiltern and Lord Caversham .]

mabel chiltern

Lord Goring, I think your father’s conversation much more improving than yours. I am only going to talk to Lord Caversham in the future, and always under the usual palm tree.

lord goring

Darling! [ Kisses her .]

lord caversham

[ Considerably taken aback .] What does this mean, sir? You don’t mean to say that this charming, clever young lady, has been so foolish as to accept you?

lord goring

Certainly, father! And Chiltern’s been wise enough to accept the seat in the Cabinet.

lord caversham

I am very glad to hear that, Chiltern … I congratulate you, sir. If the country doesn’t go to the dogs or the Radicals, we shall have you Prime Minister, some day.

·212· [ Enter Mason .]

mason

Luncheon is on the table, my Lady!

[ Mason goes out .]

lady [ E:mabel] chiltern

You’ll stop to luncheon, Lord Caversham, won’t you?

lord caversham

With pleasure, and I’ll drive you down to Downing Street afterwards, Chiltern. You have a great future before you, a great future. Wish I could say the same for you, sir. [ To Lord Goring .] But your career will have to be entirely domestic.

lord goring

Yes, father, I prefer it domestic.

lord caversham

And if you don’t make this young lady an ideal husband, I’ll cut you off with a shilling.

mabel chiltern

An ideal husband! Oh, I don’t think I should like that. It sounds like something in the next world.

·213· lord caversham

What do you want him to be then, dear?

mabel chiltern

He can be what he chooses. All I want is to be … to be … oh! a real wife to him.

lord caversham

Upon my word, there is a good deal of common sense in that, Lady Chiltern.

[ They all go out except Sir Robert Chiltern. He sinks into a chair, wrapt in thought. After a little time Lady Chiltern returns to look for him .]

lady chiltern

[ Leaning over the back of the chair .] Aren’t you coming in, Robert?

sir robert chiltern

[ Taking her hand .] Gertrude, is it love you feel for me, or is it pity merely?

lady chiltern

[ Kisses him .] It is love, Robert. Love, and only love. For both of us a new life is beginning.

Curtain.



A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

by

The Author of Lady Windermere’s Fan

London: Leonard Smithers and Co

5 Old Bond Street W, 1899

[The text follows the

first edition.]

contents.



First Act.

Second Act.

Third Act.

·[v]· to

robert baldwin ross

in appreciation

in affection

·[vii]· the persons of the play

john worthing, J.P.

algernon moncrieff

rev. canon chasuble, D.D.

merriman, Butler

lane, Manservant

lady bracknell

hon. gwendolen fairfax

cecily cardew

miss prism, Governess

·[ix]· the scenes of the play

Act I. Algernon Moncrieff’s Flat in Half-Moon Street, W .

Act II. The Garden at the Manor House, Woolton .

Act III. Drawing-Room at the Manor House, Woolton .

Time The Present .

·[xi]· LONDON: ST. JAMES’S THEATRE

Lessee and Manager: Mr. George Alexander February 14 th, 1895

·1· SCENE—Morning-room in Algernon’s flat in Half Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.

[ Lane is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, Algernon enters .]

algernon

Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

lane

I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.

algernon

I’m sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately—anyone can play accurately—but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.

lane

Yes, sir.

·2· algernon

And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?

lane

Yes, sir. [ Hands them on a salver .]

algernon

[ Inspects them, takes two, and sits down on the sofa .] Oh! … by the way, Lane, I see from your book that on Thursday night, when Lord Shoreman and Mr. Worthing were dining with me, eight bottles of champagne are entered as having been consumed.

lane

Yes, sir; eight bottles and a pint.

algernon

Why is it that at a bachelor’s establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.

lane

I attribute it to the superior quality of the wine, sir. I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand.

algernon

Good Heavens! Is marriage so demoralizing as that?

·3· lane

I believe it is a very pleasant state, sir. I have had very little experience of it myself up to the present. I have only been married once. That was in consequence of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person.