LORD WINDERMERE. Well, dear, has the fan been sent home yet? [_Going R.C._ _Sees book_.] Margaret, you have cut open my bank book. You have no right to do such a thing!
LADY WINDERMERE. You think it wrong that you are found out, don’t you?
LORD WINDERMERE. I think it wrong that a wife should spy on her husband.
LADY WINDERMERE. I did not spy on you. I never knew of this woman’s existence till half an hour ago. Some one who pitied me was kind enough to tell me what every one in London knows already—your daily visits to Curzon Street, your mad infatuation, the monstrous sums of money you squander on this infamous woman! [_Crossing L._]
LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret! don’t talk like that of Mrs. Erlynne, you don’t know how unjust it is!
LADY WINDERMERE. [_Turning to him_.] You are very jealous of Mrs. Erlynne’s honour. I wish you had been as jealous of mine.
LORD WINDERMERE. Your honour is untouched, Margaret. You don’t think for a moment that—[_Puts book back into desk_.]
LADY WINDERMERE. I think that you spend your money strangely. That is all. Oh, don’t imagine I mind about the money. As far as I am concerned, you may squander everything we have. But what I _do_ mind is that you who have loved me, you who have taught me to love you, should pass from the love that is given to the love that is bought. Oh, it’s horrible! [_Sits on sofa_.] And it is I who feel degraded! _you_ don’t feel anything. I feel stained, utterly stained. You can’t realise how hideous the last six months seems to me now—every kiss you have given me is tainted in my memory.
LORD WINDERMERE. [_Crossing to her_.] Don’t say that, Margaret. I never loved any one in the whole world but you.
LADY WINDERMERE. [_Rises_.] Who is this woman, then? Why do you take a house for her?
LORD WINDERMERE. I did not take a house for her.
LADY WINDERMERE. You gave her the money to do it, which is the same thing.
LORD WINDERMERE. Margaret, as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne—
LADY WINDERMERE. Is there a Mr. Erlynne—or is he a myth?
LORD WINDERMERE. Her husband died many years ago. She is alone in the world.
LADY WINDERMERE. No relations? [_A pause_.]
LADY WINDERMERE. Rather curious, isn’t it? [_L._]
LORD WINDERMERE. [_L.C._] Margaret, I was saying to you—and I beg you to listen to me—that as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne, she has conducted herself well. If years ago—