An Ideal Husband

her happiness would be safe in your hands. And I cannot have her sacrificed! Lord Goring Sacrificed! Sir Robert Chiltern Yes, utterly sacrificed. Loveless marriages are horrible. But there is one thing worse than an absolutely loveless marriage. A marriage in which there is love, but on one side only; faith, but on one side only; devotion, but on one side only, and in which of the two hearts one is sure to be broken. Lord Goring But I love Mabel. No other woman has any place in my life. Lady Chiltern Robert, if they love each other, why should they not be married? Sir Robert Chiltern Arthur cannot bring Mabel the love that she deserves. Lord Goring What reason have you for saying that? Sir Robert Chiltern After a pause. Do you really require me to tell you? Lord Goring Certainly I do. Sir Robert Chiltern As you choose. When I called on you yesterday evening I found Mrs. Cheveley concealed in your rooms. It was between ten and eleven o’clock at night. I do not wish to say anything more. Your relations with Mrs. Cheveley have, as I said to you last night, nothing whatsoever to do with me. I know you were engaged to be married to her once. The fascination she exercised over you then seems to have returned. You spoke to me last night of her as of a woman pure and stainless, a woman whom you respected and honoured. That may be so. But I cannot give my sister’s life into your hands. It would be wrong of me. It would be unjust, infamously unjust to her. Lord Goring I have nothing more to say. Lady Chiltern Robert, it was not Mrs. Cheveley whom Lord Goring expected last night. Sir Robert Chiltern Not Mrs. Cheveley! Who was it then? Lord Goring Lady Chiltern! Lady Chiltern It was your own wife. Robert, yesterday afternoon Lord Goring told me that if ever I was in trouble I could come to him for help, as he was our oldest and best friend. Later on, after that terrible scene in this room, I wrote to him telling him that I trusted him, that I had need of him, that I was coming to him for help and advice. Sir Robert Chiltern takes the letter out of his pocket. Yes, that letter. I didn’t go to Lord Goring’s, after all. I felt that it is from ourselves alone that help can come. Pride made me think that. Mrs. Cheveley went. She stole my letter and sent it anonymously to you this morning, that you should think⁠ ⁠… Oh! Robert, I cannot tell you what she wished you to think.⁠ ⁠… Sir Robert Chiltern What! Had I fallen so low in your eyes that you thought that even for a moment I could have doubted your goodness? Gertrude, Gertrude, you are to me the white image of all good things, and sin can never touch you. Arthur, you can go to Mabel, and you have my best wishes! Oh! stop a moment. There is no name at the beginning of this letter. The brilliant Mrs. Cheveley does not seem to have noticed that. There should be a name. Lady Chiltern Let me write yours. It is you I trust and need. You and none else. Lord Goring Well, really, Lady Chiltern, I think I should have back my own letter. Lady Chiltern Smiling. No; you shall have Mabel. Takes the letter and writes her husband’s name on it. Lord Goring Well, I hope she hasn’t changed her mind. It’s nearly twenty minutes since I saw her last. Enter Mabel Chiltern and Lord Caversham. Mabel Chiltern Lord Goring, I think your father’s conversation much more improving than yours. I am only going to talk to Lord Caversham in the future, and always under the usual palm tree. Lord Goring Darling! Kisses her. Lord Caversham Considerably taken aback. What does this mean, sir? You don’t mean to say that this charming, clever young lady has been so foolish as to accept you? Lord Goring Certainly, father! And Chiltern’s been wise enough to accept the seat in the Cabinet. Lord Caversham I am very glad to hear that, Chiltern⁠ ⁠… I congratulate you, sir. If the country doesn’t go to the dogs or the Radicals, we shall have you Prime Minister, some day. Enter Mason. Mason Luncheon is on the table, my Lady! Mason goes out. Mabel Chiltern You’ll stop to luncheon, Lord Caversham, won’t you? Lord Caversham With pleasure, and I’ll drive you down to Downing Street afterwards, Chiltern. You have a great future before you, a great future. Wish I could say the same for you, sir. To Lord Goring. But your career will have to be entirely domestic. Lord Goring Yes, father, I prefer it domestic. Lord Caversham And if you don’t make this young lady an ideal husband, I’ll cut you off with a shilling. Mabel Chiltern An ideal husband! Oh, I don’t think I should like that. It sounds like something in the next world. Lord Caversham What do you want him to be then, dear? Mabel Chiltern He can be what he chooses. All I want is to be⁠ ⁠… to be⁠ ⁠… oh! a real wife to him. Lord Caversham Upon my word, there is a good deal of common sense in that, Lady Chiltern. They all go out except Sir Robert Chiltern. He sinks in a chair, wrapt in thought. After a little time Lady Chiltern returns to look for him. Lady Chiltern Leaning over the back of the chair. Aren’t you coming in, Robert? Sir Robert Chiltern Taking her hand. Gertrude, is it love you feel for me, or is it pity merely? Lady Chiltern Kisses him. It is love, Robert. Love, and only love. For both of us a new life is beginning.

Colophon

An Ideal Husband
was published in 1899 by
Oscar Wilde.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Asher Smith,
and is based on a transcription produced in 1997 by
The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at