Lady Windermere's Fan [26]
of sofa, and anxiously watches MRS. ERLYNNE as the scene progresses.]
LADY WINDERMERE. I am so sorry, Mrs. Erlynne, to have kept you waiting. I couldn't find the photograph anywhere. At last I discovered it in my husband's dressing-room - he had stolen it.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Takes the photograph from her and looks at it.] I am not surprised - it is charming. [Goes over to sofa with LADY WINDERMERE, and sits down beside her. Looks again at the photograph.] And so that is your little boy! What is he called?
LADY WINDERMERE. Gerard, after my dear father.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Laying the photograph down.] Really?
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. If it had been a girl, I would have called it after my mother. My mother had the same name as myself, Margaret.
MRS. ERLYNNE. My name is Margaret too.
LADY WINDERMERE. Indeed!
MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes. [Pause.] You are devoted to your mother's memory, Lady Windermere, your husband tells me.
LADY WINDERMERE. We all have ideals in life. At least we all should have. Mine is my mother.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they're better.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Shaking her head.] If I lost my ideals, I should lose everything.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Everything?
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. [Pause.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. Did your father often speak to you of your mother?
LADY WINDERMERE. No, it gave him too much pain. He told me how my mother had died a few months after I was born. His eyes filled with tears as he spoke. Then he begged me never to mention her name to him again. It made him suffer even to hear it. My father - my father really died of a broken heart. His was the most ruined life know,
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Rising.] I am afraid I must go now, Lady Windermere.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Rising.] Oh no, don't.
MRS. ERLYNNE. I think I had better. My carriage must have come back by this time. I sent it to Lady Jedburgh's with a note.
LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, would you mind seeing if Mrs. Erlynne's carriage has come back?
MRS. ERLYNNE. Pray don't trouble, Lord Windermere.
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, Arthur, do go, please.
[LORD WINDERMERE hesitated for a moment and looks at MRS. ERLYNNE. She remains quite impassive. He leaves the room.]
[To MRS. ERLYNNE.] Oh! What am I to say to you? You saved me last night? [Goes towards her.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. Hush - don't speak of it.
LADY WINDERMERE. I must speak of it. I can't let you think that I am going to accept this sacrifice. I am not. It is too great. I am going to tell my husband everything. It is my duty.
MRS. ERLYNNE. It is not your duty - at least you have duties to others besides him. You say you owe me something?
LADY WINDERMERE. I owe you everything.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Then pay your debt by silence. That is the only way in which it can be paid. Don't spoil the one good thing I have done in my life by telling it to any one. Promise me that what passed last night will remain a secret between us. You must not bring misery into your husband's life. Why spoil his love? You must not spoil it. Love is easily killed. Oh! how easily love is killed. Pledge me your word, Lady Windermere, that you will never tell him. I insist upon it.
LADY WINDERMERE. [With bowed head.] It is your will, not mine.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes, it is my will. And never forget your child - I like to think of you as a mother. I like you to think of yourself as one.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Looking up.] I always will now. Only once in my life I have forgotten my own mother - that was last night. Oh, if I had remembered her I should not have been so foolish, so wicked.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [With a slight shudder.] Hush, last night is quite over.
[Enter LORD WINDERMERE.]
LORD WINDERMERE. Your carriage has not come back yet, Mrs. Erlynne.
MRS. ERLYNNE. It makes no matter. I'll take a hansom. There is nothing in the world so respectable as a good Shrewsbury and Talbot. And now, dear Lady Windermere, I
LADY WINDERMERE. I am so sorry, Mrs. Erlynne, to have kept you waiting. I couldn't find the photograph anywhere. At last I discovered it in my husband's dressing-room - he had stolen it.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Takes the photograph from her and looks at it.] I am not surprised - it is charming. [Goes over to sofa with LADY WINDERMERE, and sits down beside her. Looks again at the photograph.] And so that is your little boy! What is he called?
LADY WINDERMERE. Gerard, after my dear father.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Laying the photograph down.] Really?
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. If it had been a girl, I would have called it after my mother. My mother had the same name as myself, Margaret.
MRS. ERLYNNE. My name is Margaret too.
LADY WINDERMERE. Indeed!
MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes. [Pause.] You are devoted to your mother's memory, Lady Windermere, your husband tells me.
LADY WINDERMERE. We all have ideals in life. At least we all should have. Mine is my mother.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they're better.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Shaking her head.] If I lost my ideals, I should lose everything.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Everything?
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes. [Pause.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. Did your father often speak to you of your mother?
LADY WINDERMERE. No, it gave him too much pain. He told me how my mother had died a few months after I was born. His eyes filled with tears as he spoke. Then he begged me never to mention her name to him again. It made him suffer even to hear it. My father - my father really died of a broken heart. His was the most ruined life know,
MRS. ERLYNNE. [Rising.] I am afraid I must go now, Lady Windermere.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Rising.] Oh no, don't.
MRS. ERLYNNE. I think I had better. My carriage must have come back by this time. I sent it to Lady Jedburgh's with a note.
LADY WINDERMERE. Arthur, would you mind seeing if Mrs. Erlynne's carriage has come back?
MRS. ERLYNNE. Pray don't trouble, Lord Windermere.
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, Arthur, do go, please.
[LORD WINDERMERE hesitated for a moment and looks at MRS. ERLYNNE. She remains quite impassive. He leaves the room.]
[To MRS. ERLYNNE.] Oh! What am I to say to you? You saved me last night? [Goes towards her.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. Hush - don't speak of it.
LADY WINDERMERE. I must speak of it. I can't let you think that I am going to accept this sacrifice. I am not. It is too great. I am going to tell my husband everything. It is my duty.
MRS. ERLYNNE. It is not your duty - at least you have duties to others besides him. You say you owe me something?
LADY WINDERMERE. I owe you everything.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Then pay your debt by silence. That is the only way in which it can be paid. Don't spoil the one good thing I have done in my life by telling it to any one. Promise me that what passed last night will remain a secret between us. You must not bring misery into your husband's life. Why spoil his love? You must not spoil it. Love is easily killed. Oh! how easily love is killed. Pledge me your word, Lady Windermere, that you will never tell him. I insist upon it.
LADY WINDERMERE. [With bowed head.] It is your will, not mine.
MRS. ERLYNNE. Yes, it is my will. And never forget your child - I like to think of you as a mother. I like you to think of yourself as one.
LADY WINDERMERE. [Looking up.] I always will now. Only once in my life I have forgotten my own mother - that was last night. Oh, if I had remembered her I should not have been so foolish, so wicked.
MRS. ERLYNNE. [With a slight shudder.] Hush, last night is quite over.
[Enter LORD WINDERMERE.]
LORD WINDERMERE. Your carriage has not come back yet, Mrs. Erlynne.
MRS. ERLYNNE. It makes no matter. I'll take a hansom. There is nothing in the world so respectable as a good Shrewsbury and Talbot. And now, dear Lady Windermere, I