Tuesday is always one of Mrs. Daubeny's bad nights.

LADY HUNSTANTON. [Rising.] Well, I won't keep you from her.
[Goes with him towards door.] I have told Farquhar to put a brace

of partridge into the carriage. Mrs. Daubeny may fancy them.
THE ARCHDEACON. It is very kind of you, but Mrs. Daubeny never

touches solids now. Lives entirely on jellies. But she is
wonderfullycheerful, wonderfullycheerful. She has nothing to

complain of.
[Exit with LADY HUNSTANTON.]

MRS. ALLONBY. [Goes over to LORD ILLINGWORTH.] There is a
beautiful moon to-night.

LORD ILLINGWORTH. Let us go and look at it. To look at anything
that is inconstant is charming nowadays.

MRS. ALLONBY. You have your looking-glass.
LORD ILLINGWORTH. It is unkind. It merely shows me my wrinkles.

MRS. ALLONBY. Mine is better behaved. It never tells me the
truth.

LORD ILLINGWORTH. Then it is in love with you.
[Exeunt SIR JOHN, LADY STUTFIELD, MR. KELVIL and LORD ALFRED.]

GERALD. [To LORD ILLINGWORTH] May I come too?
LORD ILLINGWORTH. Do, my dear boy. [Moves towards with MRS.

ALLONBY and GERALD.]
[LADY CAROLINE enters, looks rapidly round and goes off in opposite

direction to that taken by SIR JOHN and LADY STUTFIELD.]
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Gerald!

GERALD. What, mother!
[Exit LORD ILLINGWORTH with MRS. ALLONBY.]

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. It is getting late. Let us go home.
GERALD. My dear mother. Do let us wait a little longer. Lord

Illingworth is so delightful, and, by the way, mother, I have a
great surprise for you. We are starting for India at the end of

this month.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Let us go home.

GERALD. If you really want to, of course, mother, but I must bid
good-bye to Lord Illingworth first. I'll be back in five minutes.

[Exit.]
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Let him leave me if he chooses, but not with him -

not with him! I couldn't bear it. [Walks up and down.]
[Enter HESTER.]

HESTER. What a lovely night it is, Mrs. Arbuthnot.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Is it?

HESTER. Mrs. Arbuthnot, I wish you would let us be friends. You
are so different from the other women here. When you came into the

Drawing-room this evening, somehow you brought with you a sense of
what is good and pure in life. I had been foolish. There are

things that are right to say, but that may be said at the wrong
time and to the wrong people.

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. I heard what you said. I agree with it, Miss
Worsley.

HESTER. I didn't know you had heard it. But I knew you would
agree with me. A woman who has sinned should be punished,

shouldn't she?
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Yes.

HESTER. She shouldn't be allowed to come into the society of good
men and women?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. She should not.
HESTER. And the man should be punished in the same way?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. In the same way. And the children, if there are
children, in the same way also?

HESTER. Yes, it is right that the sins of the parents should be
visited on the children. It is a just law. It is God's law.

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. It is one of God's terrible laws.
[Moves away to fireplace.]

HESTER. You are distressed about your son leaving you, Mrs.
Arbuthnot?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Yes.
HESTER. Do you like him going away with Lord Illingworth? Of

course there is position, no doubt, and money, but position and
money are not everything, are they?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. They are nothing; they bring misery.
HESTER. Then why do you let your son go with him?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. He wishes it himself.
HESTER. But if you asked him he would stay, would he not?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. He has set his heart on going.
HESTER. He couldn't refuse you anything. He loves you too much.

Ask him to stay. Let me send him in to you. He is on the terrace
at this moment with Lord Illingworth. I heard them laughing

together as I passed through the Music-room.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Don't trouble, Miss Worsley, I can wait. It is of

no consequence.
HESTER. No, I'll tell him you want him. Do - do ask him to stay.

[Exit HESTER.]
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. He won't come - I know he won't come.

[Enter LADY CAROLINE. She looks round anxiously. Enter GERALD.]
LADY CAROLINE. Mr. Arbuthnot, may I ask you is Sir John anywhere

on the terrace?
GERALD. No, Lady Caroline, he is not on the terrace.

LADY CAROLINE. It is very curious. It is time for him to retire.
[Exit LADY CAROLINE.]

GERALD. Dear mother, I am afraid I kept you waiting. I forgot all
about it. I am so happy to-night, mother; I have never been so

happy.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. At the prospect of going away?

GERALD. Don't put it like that, mother. Of course I am sorry to
leave you. Why, you are the best mother in the whole world. But

after all, as Lord Illingworth says, it is impossible to live in
such a place as Wrockley. You don't mind it. But I'm ambitions; I

want something more than that. I want to have a career. I want to
do something that will make you proud of me, and Lord Illingworth

is going to help me. He is going to do everything for me.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Gerald, don't go away with Lord Illingworth. I

implore you not to. Gerald, I beg you!
GERALD. Mother, how changeable you are! You don't seem to know

your own mind for a single moment. An hour and a half ago in the
Drawing-room you agreed to the whole thing; now you turn round and

make objections, and try to force me to give up my one chance in
life. Yes, my one chance. You don't suppose that men like Lord

Illingworth are to be found every day, do you, mother? It is very
strange that when I have had such a wonderful piece of good luck,

the one person to put difficulties in my way should be my own
mother. Besides, you know, mother, I love Hester Worsley. Who

could help loving her? I love her more than I have ever told you,
far more. And if I had a position, if I had prospects, I could - I

could ask her to - Don't you understand now, mother, what it means
to me to be Lord Illingworth's secretary? To start like that is to

find a career ready for one - before one - waiting for one. If I
were Lord Illingworth's secretary I could ask Hester to be my wife.

As a wretched bank clerk with a hundred a year it would be an
impertinence.

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. I fear you need have no hopes of Miss Worsley. I
know her views on life. She has just told them to me. [A pause.]

GERALD. Then I have my ambition left, at any rate. That is
something - I am glad I have that! You have always tried to crush

my ambition, mother - haven't you? You have told me that the world
is a wicked place, that success is not worth having, that society

is shallow, and all that sort of thing - well, I don't believe it,
mother. I think the world must be delightful. I think society

must be exquisite. I think success is a thing worth having. You
have been wrong in all that you taught me, mother, quite wrong.

Lord Illingworth is a successful man. He is a fashionable man. He
is a man who lives in the world and for it. Well, I would give

anything to be just like Lord Illingworth.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. I would sooner see you dead.

GERALD. Mother, what is your objection to Lord Illingworth? Tell
me - tell me right out. What is it?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. He is a bad man.
GERALD. In what way bad? I don't understand what you mean.

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. I will tell you.
GERALD. I suppose you think him bad, because he doesn't believe

the same things as you do. Well, men are different from women,
mother. It is natural that they should have different views.

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. It is not what Lord Illingworth believes, or what
he does not believe, that makes him bad. It is what he is.

GERALD. Mother, is it something you know of him? Something you
actually know?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. It is something I know.
GERALD. Something you are quite sure of?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Quite sure of.
GERALD. How long have you known it?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. For twenty years.
GERALD. Is it fair to go back twenty years in any man's career?

And what have you or I to do with Lord Illingworth's early life?
What business is it of ours?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. What this man has been, he is now, and will be
always.

GERALD. Mother, tell me what Lord Illingworth did? If he did
anything shameful, I will not go away with him. Surely you know me

well enough for that?
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. Gerald, come near to me. Quite close to me, as

you used to do when you were a little boy, when you were mother's
own boy. [GERALD sits down betide his mother. She runs her

fingers through his hair, and strokes his hands.] Gerald, there
was a girl once, she was very young, she was little over eighteen

at the time. George Harford - that was Lord Illingworth's name
then - George Harford met her. She knew nothing about life. He -

knew everything. He made this girl love him. He made her love him
so much that she left her father's house with him one morning. She

loved him so much, and he had promised to marry her! He had
solemnly promised to marry her, and she had believed him. She was

very young, and - and ignorant of what life really is. But he put
the marriage off from week to week, and month to month. - She

trusted in him all the while. She loved him. - Before her child
was born - for she had a child - she implored him for the child's

sake to marry her, that the child might have a name, that her sin
might not be visited on the child, who was innocent. He refused.

After the child was born she left him, taking the child away, and
her life was ruined, and her soul ruined, and all that was sweet,

and good, and pure in her ruined also. She suffered terribly - she
suffers now. She will always suffer. For her there is no joy, no

peace, no atonement. She is a woman who drags a chain like a
guilty thing. She is a woman who wears a mask, like a thing that

is a leper. The fire cannot purify her. The waters cannot quench
her anguish. Nothing can heal her! no anodyne can give her sleep!

no poppies forgetfulness! She is lost! She is a lost soul! - That
is why I call Lord Illingworth a bad man. That is why I don't want

my boy to be with him.
GERALD. My dear mother, it all sounds very tragic, of course. But

I dare say the girl was just as much to blame as Lord Illingworth
was. - After all, would a really nice girl, a girl with any nice

feelings at all, go away from her home with a man to whom she was
not married, and live with him as his wife? No nice girl would.

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. [After a pause.] Gerald, I withdraw all my
objections. You are at liberty to go away with Lord Illingworth,

when and where you choose.
GERALD. Dear mother, I knew you wouldn't stand in my way. You are

the best woman God ever made. And, as for Lord Illingworth, I
don't believe he is capable of anything infamous or base. I can't

believe it of him - I can't.
HESTER. [Outside.] Let me go! Let me go! [Enter HESTER in

terror, and rushes over to GERALD and flings herself in his arms.]
HESTER. Oh! save me - save me from him!

• carriage [´kæridʒ] n.马车；客车；货运 (初中英语单词)
• cheerful [´tʃiəful] a.快乐的；高兴的 (初中英语单词)
• charming [´tʃɑ:miŋ] a.可爱的；极好的 (初中英语单词)
• delightful [di´laitful] a.讨人喜欢的 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] n.景色；境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
• career [kə´riə] n.经历；生涯；职业 (初中英语单词)
• changeable [´tʃeindʒəbəl] a.易变的；可换的 (初中英语单词)
• wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)
• ambition [æm´biʃən] n.雄心，野心；企图 (初中英语单词)
• wicked [´wikid] a.邪恶的；不道德的 (初中英语单词)
• shallow [´ʃæləu] a.肤浅的；表面的 (初中英语单词)
• objection [əb´dʒekʃən] n.反对；异议；缺点 (初中英语单词)
• ignorant [´ignərənt] a.无知的，愚昧的 (初中英语单词)
• innocent [´inəsənt] a.无罪的；单纯的 (初中英语单词)
• terribly [´terəbli] ad.可怕地 (初中英语单词)
• withdraw [wið´drɔ:] v.收回；撤销；撤退 (初中英语单词)
• capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力；能干的 (初中英语单词)
• partridge [´pɑ:tridʒ] n.鹧鸪；石鸡 (高中英语单词)
• anxiously [´æŋkʃəsli] ad.挂念地；渴望地 (高中英语单词)
• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
• exquisite [ik´skwizit] a.精巧的；敏锐的 (高中英语单词)
• fashionable [´fæʃənəbəl] a.流行的，时髦的 (高中英语单词)
• anguish [´æŋgwiʃ] n.(极度的)痛苦；苦恼 (高中英语单词)
• tragic [´trædʒik] a.悲剧的；悲惨的 (高中英语单词)
• wonderfully [´wʌndəfuli] ad.令人惊讶地；奇妙地 (英语四级单词)
• unkind [,ʌn´kaind] a.不客气的；不和善的 (英语四级单词)
• shameful [´ʃeimfəl] a.可耻的；猥亵的 (英语四级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• purify [´pjuərifai] vt.净化；精炼；提纯 (英语六级单词)
• infamous [´infəməs] a.声名狼藉的 (英语六级单词)