Knowledge house - Oscar Wilde - The Complete Works

hester

Mr. Arbuthnot is very charming.

lady caroline

Ah, yes! the young man who has a post in a bank. Lady Hunstanton is most kind in asking him here, and Lord Illingworth seems to have taken quite a fancy to him. I am not sure, however, that Jane is right in taking him out of his position. In my young days, Miss Worsley, one never met any one in society who worked for their living. It was not considered the thing.

·4· hester

In America those are the people we respect most.

lady caroline

I have no doubt of it.

hester

Mr. Arbuthnot has a beautiful nature! He is so simple, so sincere. He has one of the most beautiful natures I have ever come across. It is a privilege to meet him .

lady caroline

It is not customary in England, Miss Worsley, for a young lady to speak with such enthusiasm of any person of the opposite sex. English women conceal their feelings till after they are married. They show them then.

hester

Do you, in England, allow no friendship to exist between a young man and a young girl?

[ Enter Lady Hunstanton followed by Footman with shawls and a cushion .]

lady caroline

We think it very inadvisable. Jane, I was just saying what a pleasant party you have asked us to meet. You have a wonderful power of selection. It is quite a gift.

·5· lady hunstanton

Dear Caroline, how kind of you! I think we all do fit in very nicely together. And I hope our charming American visitor will carry back pleasant recollections of our English country life. [ To Footman .] The cushion there, Francis. And my shawl. The Shetland. Get the Shetland.

[ Exit Footman for shawl .]

[ Enter Gerald Arbuthnot .]

gerald

Lady Hunstanton, I have such good news to tell you. Lord Illingworth has just offered to make me his secretary.

lady hunstanton

His secretary? That is good news indeed, Gerald. It means a very brilliant future in store for you. Your dear mother will be delighted. I really must try and induce her to come up here to-night. Do you think she would, Gerald? I know how difficult it is to get her to go anywhere.

gerald

Oh! I am sure she would, Lady Hunstanton, if she knew Lord Illingworth had made me such an offer.

[ Enter Footman with shawl .]

·6· lady hunstanton

I will write and tell her about it, and ask her to come up and meet him. [ To Footman .] Just wait, Francis. [ Writes letter .]

lady caroline

That is a very wonderful opening for so young a man as you are, Mr. Arbuthnot.

gerald

It is indeed, Lady Caroline. I trust I shall be able to show myself worthy of it.

lady caroline

I trust so.

gerald

[ To Hester .] You have not congratulated me yet, Miss Worsley.

hester

Are you very pleased about it?

gerald

Of course I am. It means everything to me—things that were out of the reach of hope before may be within hope’s reach now.

hester

Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.

·7· lady hunstanton

I fancy, Caroline, that Diplomacy is what Lord Illingworth is aiming at. I heard that he was offered Vienna. But that may not be true.

lady caroline

I don’t think that England should be represented abroad by an unmarried man, Jane. It might lead to complications.

lady hunstanton

You are too nervous, Caroline. Believe me, you are too nervous. Besides, Lord Illingworth may marry any day. I was in hopes he would have married Lady Kelso. But I believe he said her family was too large. Or was it her feet? I forget which. I regret it very much. She was made to be an ambassador’s wife.

lady caroline

She certainly has a wonderful faculty of remembering people’s names, and forgetting their faces.

lady hunstanton

Well, that is very natural, Caroline, is it not? [ To Footman .] Tell Henry to wait for an answer. I have written a line to your dear mother, Gerald, to tell her your good news, and to say she really must come to dinner.

[ Exit Footman .]

·8· gerald

That is awfully kind of you, Lady Hunstanton. [ To Hester .] Will you come for a stroll, Miss Worsley?

hester

With pleasure. [ Exit with Gerald .]

lady hunstanton

I am very much gratified at Gerald Arbuthnot’s good fortune. He is quite a protégé of mine. And I am particularly pleased that Lord Illingworth should have made the offer of his own accord without my suggesting anything. Nobody likes to be asked favours. I remember poor Charlotte Pagden making herself quite unpopular one season, because she had a French governess she wanted to recommend to every one.

lady caroline

I saw the governess, Jane. Lady Pagden sent her to me. It was before Eleanor came out. She was far too good-looking to be in any respectable household. I don’t wonder Lady Pagden was so anxious to get rid of her.

lady hunstanton

Ah, that explains it.

lady caroline

John, the grass is too damp for you. You ·9· had better go and put on your overshoes at once.

sir john

I am quite comfortable, Caroline, I assure you.

lady caroline

You must allow me to be the best judge of that, John. Pray do as I tell you.

[ Sir John gets up and goes off .]

lady hunstanton

You spoil him, Caroline, you do indeed!

[ Enter Mrs. Allonby and Lady Stutfield .]

[ To Mrs. Allonby .] Well, dear, I hope you like the park. It is said to be well timbered.

mrs. allonby

The trees are wonderful, Lady Hunstanton.

lady stutfield

Quite, quite wonderful.

mrs. allonby

But somehow, I feel sure that if I lived in the country for six months, I should become so unsophisticated that no one would take the slightest notice of me.

·10· lady hunstanton

I assure you, dear, that the country has not that effect at all. Why, it was from Melthorpe, which is only two miles from here, that Lady Belton eloped with Lord Fethersdale. I remember the occurrence perfectly. Poor Lord Belton died three days afterwards of joy, or gout. I forget which. We had a large party staying here at the time, so we were all very much interested in the whole affair.

mrs. allonby

I think to elope is cowardly. It’s running away from danger. And danger has become so rare in modern life.

lady caroline

As far as I can make out, the young women of the present day seem to make it the sole object of their lives to be always playing with fire.

mrs. allonby

The one advantage of playing with fire, Lady Caroline, is that one never gets even singed. It is the people who don’t know how to play with it who get burned up.

lady stutfield

Yes; I see that. It is very, very helpful.

·11· lady hunstanton

I don’t know how the world would get on with such a theory as that, dear Mrs. Allonby.

lady stutfield

Ah! The world was made for men and not for women.

mrs. allonby

Oh, don’t say that, Lady Stutfield. We have a much better time than they have. There are far more things forbidden to us than are forbidden to them.

lady stutfield

Yes; that is quite, quite true. I had not thought of that.

[ Enter Sir John and Mr. Kelvil .]

lady hunstanton

Well, Mr. Kelvil, have you got through your work?

kelvil

I have finished my writing for the day, Lady Hunstanton. It has been an arduous task. The demands on the time of a public man are very heavy now-a-days, very heavy indeed. And I don’t think they meet with adequate recognition.

·12· lady caroline

John, have you got your overshoes on?

sir john

Yes, my love.