I don't think so.
GWENDOLEN
Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say, is entirely
unknown. I think that is quite as it should be. The home seems to me to be
the proper sphere for the man. And certainly once a man begins to neglect
his domestic duties he becomes painfully effeminate, does he not? And I
don't like that. It makes men so very attractive. Cecily, mamma, whose views
on education are remarkably strict, has brought me up to be extremely short
sighted; it is part of her system; so do you mind my looking at you through
my glasses?
CECILY
Oh! not at all, Gwendolen. I am very fond of being looked at. GWENDOLEN [After examining CECILY carefully through a lorgnette.] You are here on a short visit, I suppose.
CECILY
Oh no! I live here. GWENDOLEN [Severely.] Really? Your mother, no doubt, or some female relative of advanced years, resides here also?
CECILY
Oh no! I have no mother, nor, in fact, any relations.
GWENDOLEN
Indeed?
CECILY
My dear guardian, with the assistance of Miss Prism, has the arduous
task of looking after me.
GWENDOLEN
Your guardian?
CECILY
Yes, I am Mr. Worthing's ward.
GWENDOLEN
Oh! It is strange he never mentioned to me that he had a ward. How secretive of him! He grows more interesting hourly. I am not sure, however, that the news inspires me with feelings of unmixed delight. [Rising and going to her.] I am very fond of you, Cecily; I have liked you ever since I met you! But I am bound to state that now that I know that you are Mr.
Worthing's ward, 1 cannot help
expressing a wish you were?well just a little
older than you seem to be?and not quite so very alluring in appearance.
In fact, if I may speak candidly
CECILY
Pray do! I think that whenever one has anything unpleasant to say,
one should always be quite candid.
GWENDOLEN
Well, to speak with perfect candour, Cecily, I wish that you were
fully forty-two, and more than usually plain for your age. Ernest has a strong
upright nature. He is the very soul of truth and honour. Disloyalty would
be as impossible to him as deception. But even men of the noblest possible
moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical
.
1 1726 / OSCAR WILDE
charms of others. Modern, no less than Ancient History, supplies us with
many most painful examples of what I refer to. If it were not so, indeed,
History would be quite unreadable.
CECILY
I beg your pardon, Gwendolen, did you say Ernest?
