A Woman of No Importance

She hears the last words and starts. Lady Hunstanton My dear young lady! Hester It is right that they should be punished, but don’t let them be the only ones to suffer. If a man and woman have sinned, let them both go forth into the desert to love or loathe each other there. Let them both be branded. Set a mark, if you wish, on each, but don’t punish the one and let the other go free. Don’t have one law for men and another for women. You are unjust to women in England. And till you count what is a shame in a woman to be an infamy in a man, you will always be unjust, and Right, that pillar of fire, and Wrong, that pillar of cloud, will be made dim to your eyes, or be not seen at all, or if seen, not regarded. Lady Caroline Might I, dear Miss Worsley, as you are standing up, ask you for my cotton that is just behind you? Thank you. Lady Hunstanton My dear Mrs. Arbuthnot! I am so pleased you have come up. But I didn’t hear you announced. Mrs. Allonby Oh, I came straight in from the terrace, Lady Hunstanton, just as I was. You didn’t tell me you had a party. Lady Hunstanton Not a party. Only a few guests who are staying in the house, and whom you must know. Allow me. Tries to help her. Rings bell. Caroline, this is Mrs. Arbuthnot, one of my sweetest friends. Lady Caroline Pontefract, Lady Stutfield, Mrs. Allonby, and my young American friend, Miss Worsley, who has just been telling us all how wicked we are. Hester I am afraid you think I spoke too strongly, Lady Hunstanton. But there are some things in England⁠— Lady Hunstanton My dear young lady, there was a great deal of truth, I dare say, in what you said, and you looked very pretty while you said it, which is much more important, Lord Illingworth would tell us. The only point where I thought you were a little hard was about Lady Caroline’s brother, about poor Lord Henry. He is really such good company. Enter Footman. Take Mrs. Arbuthnot’s things. Exit Footman with wraps. Hester Lady Caroline, I had no idea it was your brother. I am sorry for the pain I must have caused you⁠—I⁠— Lady Caroline My dear Miss Worsley, the only part of your little speech, if I may so term it, with which I thoroughly agreed, was the part about my brother. Nothing that you could possibly say could be too bad for him. I regard Henry as infamous, absolutely infamous. But I am bound to state, as you were remarking, Jane, that he is excellent company, and he has one of the best cooks in London, and after a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations. Lady Hunstanton To Miss Worsley. Now, do come, dear, and make friends with Mrs. Arbuthnot. She is one of the good, sweet, simple people you told us we never admitted into society. I am sorry to say Mrs. Arbuthnot comes very rarely to me. But that is not my fault. Mrs. Allonby What a bore it is the men staying so long after dinner! I expect they are saying the most dreadful things about us. Lady Stutfield Do you really think so? Mrs. Allonby I was sure of it. Lady Stutfield How very, very horrid of them! Shall we go onto the terrace? Mrs. Allonby Oh, anything to get away from the dowagers and the dowdies. Rises and goes with Lady Stutfield to door L.C. We are only going to look at the stars, Lady Hunstanton. Lady Hunstanton You will find a great many, dear, a great many. But don’t catch cold. To Mrs. Arbuthnot. We shall all miss Gerald so much, dear Mrs. Arbuthnot. Mrs. Arbuthnot But has Lord Illingworth really offered to make Gerald his secretary? Lady Hunstanton Oh, yes! He has been most charming about it. He has the highest possible opinion of your boy. You don’t know Lord Illingworth, I believe, dear. Mrs. Arbuthnot I have never met him. Lady Hunstanton You know him by name, no doubt? Mrs. Arbuthnot I am afraid I don’t. I live so much out of the world, and see so few people. I remember hearing years ago of an old Lord Illingworth who lived in Yorkshire, I think. Lady Hunstanton Ah, yes. That would be the last Earl but one. He was a very curious man. He wanted to marry beneath him. Or wouldn’t, I believe. There was some scandal about it. The present Lord Illingworth is quite different. He is very distinguished. He does⁠—well, he does nothing, which I am afraid our pretty American visitor here thinks very wrong of anybody, and I don’t know that he cares much for the subjects in which you are so interested, dear Mrs. Arbuthnot. Do you think, Caroline, that Lord Illingworth is interested in the Housing of the Poor? Lady Caroline I should fancy not at all, Jane. Lady Hunstanton We all have our different tastes, have we not? But Lord Illingworth has a very high position, and there is nothing he couldn’t get if he chose to ask for it. Of course, he is comparatively a young man still, and he has only come to his title within⁠—how long exactly is it, Caroline, since Lord Illingworth succeeded? Lady Caroline About four years, I think, Jane. I know it was the same year in which my brother had his last exposure in the evening newspapers. Lady Hunstanton Ah, I remember. That would be about four years ago. Of course, there were a great many people between the present Lord Illingworth and the title, Mrs. Arbuthnot. There was⁠—who was there, Caroline? Lady Caroline There was poor Margaret’s baby. You remember how anxious she was to have a boy, and it was a boy, but it died, and her husband died shortly afterwards, and she married almost immediately one of Lord Ascot’s sons, who, I am told, beats