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Ebook has 728 lines and 24853 words, and 15 pages
LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN
A PLAY ABOUT A GOOD WOMAN
OSCAR WILDE
METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON
TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF ROBERT EARL OF LYTTON IN AFFECTION AND ADMIRATION
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
Lord Windermere
Lord Darlington
Lord Augustus Lorton
Mr. Dumby
Mr. Cecil Graham
Mr. Hopper
Parker, Butler
Lady Windermere
The Duchess of Berwick
Lady Agatha Carlisle
Lady Plymdale
Lady Stutfield
Lady Jedburgh
Mrs. Cowper-Cowper
Mrs. Erlynne
Rosalie, Maid
THE SCENES OF THE PLAY
LONDON: ST. JAMES'S THEATRE
FIRST ACT
SCENE
PARKER. Is your ladyship at home this afternoon?
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes--who has called?
PARKER. Lord Darlington, my lady.
LADY WINDERMERE. Show him up--and I'm at home to any one who calls.
PARKER. Yes, my lady.
LADY WINDERMERE. It's best for me to see him before to-night. I'm glad he's come.
PARKER. Lord Darlington,
LORD DARLINGTON. How do you do, Lady Windermere?
LADY WINDERMERE. How do you do, Lord Darlington? No, I can't shake hands with you. My hands are all wet with these roses. Aren't they lovely? They came up from Selby this morning.
LORD DARLINGTON. They are quite perfect. And what a wonderful fan! May I look at it?
LADY WINDERMERE. Do. Pretty, isn't it! It's got my name on it, and everything. I have only just seen it myself. It's my husband's birthday present to me. You know to-day is my birthday?
LORD DARLINGTON. No? Is it really?
LADY WINDERMERE. Yes, I'm of age to-day. Quite an important day in my life, isn't it? That is why I am giving this party to-night. Do sit down.
LORD DARLINGTON. I wish I had known it was your birthday, Lady Windermere. I would have covered the whole street in front of your house with flowers for you to walk on. They are made for you.
LADY WINDERMERE. Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night at the Foreign Office. I am afraid you are going to annoy me again.
LORD DARLINGTON. I, Lady Windermere?
LADY WINDERMERE. Put it there, Parker. That will do. Won't you come over, Lord Darlington?
LORD DARLINGTON. I am quite miserable, Lady Windermere. You must tell me what I did.
LADY WINDERMERE. Well, you kept paying me elaborate compliments the whole evening.
LADY WINDERMERE. No, I am talking very seriously. You mustn't laugh, I am quite serious. I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean.
LORD DARLINGTON. Ah, but I did mean them.
LADY WINDERMERE. I hope not. I should be sorry to have to quarrel with you, Lord Darlington. I like you very much, you know that. But I shouldn't like you at all if I thought you were what most other men are. Believe me, you are better than most other men, and I sometimes think you pretend to be worse.
LORD DARLINGTON. We all have our little vanities, Lady Windermere.
LADY WINDERMERE. Why do you make that your special one?
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