Lady Windermere's Fan
Mrs. Erlynne is! She is coming to lunch on Thursday, won’t you come too?
I expect the Bishop and dear Lady Merton.
LADY WINDERMERE. I am afraid I am engaged, Lady Jedburgh.
LADY JEDBURGH. So sorry. Come, dear. [_Exeunt_ LADY JEDBURGH _and_
MISS GRAHAM.]
[_Enter_ MRS. ERLYNNE _and_ LORD WINDERMERE.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. Charming ball it has been! Quite reminds me of old days.
[_Sits on 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’s
sister-in-law—
LORD WINDERMERE. [_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. ERLYNNE. 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 am 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 WINDERMERE. I am not called on to encourage Lord Augustus, I
suppose?
MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh, no! I do the encouraging. But you will make me a
handsome settlement, Windermere, won’t you?
LORD WINDERMERE. [_Frowning_.] Is that what you want to talk to me
about to-night?
MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes.
LORD WINDERMERE. [_With a gesture of impatience_.] I will not talk of
it here.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_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 WINDERMERE. Won’t to-morrow do as well?
MRS. ERLYNNE. 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 I had—well,
what shall I say?—£2000 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 £2000? £2500, 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 WINDERMERE. 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. ERLYNNE. Is Lady Windermere in the ball-room?
PARKER. Her ladyship has just gone out.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Gone out? She’s not on the terrace?
PARKER. No, madam. Her ladyship has just gone out of the house.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Starts_, _and looks at the servant with a puzzled
expression in her face_.] Out of the house?
PARKER. Yes, madam—her ladyship told me she had left a letter for his
lordship on the table.
MRS. ERLYNNE. A letter for Lord Windermere?
PARKER. Yes, madam.
MRS. ERLYNNE. 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 WINDERMERE. Have you said good-night to my wife? [_Comes C._]
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Crushing letter in her hand_.] Yes.
LORD WINDERMERE. Where is she?
MRS. ERLYNNE. She is very tired. She has gone to bed. She said she had
a headache.
LORD WINDERMERE. I must go to her. You’ll excuse me?
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_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 WINDERMERE. [_Picks up letter_.] You have dropped something.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh yes, thank you, that is mine. [_Puts out her hand to
take it_.]
LORD WINDERMERE. [_Still looking at letter_.] But it’s my wife’s
handwriting, isn’t it?
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Takes the letter quickly_.] Yes, it’s—an address. Will
you ask them to call my carriage, please?
LORD WINDERMERE. Certainly.
[_Goes L. and Exit_.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. 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 AUGUSTUS. Dear lady, I am in such suspense! May I not have an
answer to my request?
MRS. ERLYNNE. Lord Augustus, listen to me. You are to take Lord
Windermere down to your club at once, and keep him there as long as
possible. You understand?
LORD AUGUSTUS. But you said you wished me to keep early hours!
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Nervously_.] Do what I tell you. Do what I tell you.
LORD AUGUSTUS. And my reward?
MRS. ERLYNNE. 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 AUGUSTUS. 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 fireplace 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 WINDERMERE. [_Standing by the fireplace_.] 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 one, 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 blinded 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_.]
[_Enter_ MRS. ERLYNNE _L._]
MRS. ERLYNNE. 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 WINDERMERE. Must?
MRS. ERLYNNE. [_Authoritatively_.] Yes, you must! There is not a
second to be lost. Lord Darlington may return at any moment.
LADY WINDERMERE. Don’t come near me!
MRS. ERLYNNE. 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 WINDERMERE. 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. ERLYNNE. Oh! You don’t think that—you can’t.
LADY WINDERMERE. 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. ERLYNNE. No—no—
LADY WINDERMERE. 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