Free Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

wretched. If you dare to tell her, there is
no depth of degradation I will not sink to, no pit of shame I will
not enter. You shall not tell her—I forbid you.
    LORD WINDERMERE. Why?
    MRS. ERLYNNE.
(After a pause.)
If I said to you that I cared for
her, perhaps loved her even—you would sneer at me, wouldn't you?
    LORD WINDERMERE. I should feel it was not true. A mother's love
means devotion, unselfishness, sacrifice. What could you know of
such things?
    MRS. ERLYNNE. You are right. What could I know of such things?
Don't let us talk any more about it—as for telling my daughter who
I am, that I do not allow. It is my secret, it is not yours. If I
make up my mind to tell her, and I think I will, I shall tell her
before I leave the house—if not, I shall never tell her.
    LORD WINDERMERE.
(Angrily.)
Then let me beg of you to leave our
house at once. I will make your excuses to Margaret.
    (Enter LADY WINDERMERE R. She goes over to MRS. ERLYNNE with the
photograph in her hand. LORD WINDERMERE moves to back 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