Mrs. Cheveley? I seem to know the name.
L ADY M ARKBY . She has just arrived from Vienna.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . Ah! yes. I think I know whom you mean.
L ADY M ARKBY . Oh! she goes everywhere there, and has such pleasant scandals about all her friends. I really must go to Vienna next winter. I hope there is a good chef at the Embassy.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . If there is not, the Ambassador will certainlyhave to be recalled. Pray point out Mrs. Cheveley to me. I should like to see her.
L ADY M ARKBY . Let me introduce you.
(To Mrs. Cheveley.)
My dear, sir Robert Chiltern is dying to know you!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN .
(Bowing.)
Everyone is dying to know the brilliant Mrs. Cheveley. Our attachés at Vienna write to us about nothing else.
M RS . C HEVELEY . Thank you, Sir Robert. An acquaintance that begins with a compliment is sure to develop into a real friendship. It starts in the right manner. And I find that I know Lady Chiltern already.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . Really?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Yes. She has just reminded me that we were at school together. I remember it perfectly now. she always got the good conduct prize. I have a distinct recollection of Lady Chiltern always getting the good conduct prize!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN .
(Smiling.)
And what prizes did you get, Mrs. Cheveley?
M RS . C HEVELEY . My prizes came a little later on in life. I don’t think any of them were for good conduct. I forget!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . I am sure they were for something charming!
M RS . C HEVELEY . I don’t know that women are always rewarded for being charming. I think they are usually punished for it! Certainly, more women grow old nowadays through the faithfulness of their admirers than through anything else! At least that is the only way I can account for the terribly haggard look of most of your pretty women in London!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . What an appalling philosophy that sounds! To attempt to classify you, Mrs. Cheveley, would be an impertinence. But may I ask, at heart, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Those seem to be the only two fashionable religions left to us nowadays.
M RS . C HEVELEY . Oh, I’m neither. Optimism begins in a broad grin, and Pessimism ends with blue spectacles. Besides, they are both of them merely poses.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . You prefer to be natural?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Sometimes. But it is such a very difficult pose to keep up.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . What would those modern psychological novelists, of whom we hear so much, say to such a theory as that?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Ah! the strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analyzed, women … merely adored.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . You think science cannot grapple with the problem of women?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Science can never grapple with the irrational. That is why it has no future before it, in this world.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . And women represent the irrational.
M RS . C HEVELEY . Well-dressed women do.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN .
(With a polite bow.)
I fear I could hardly agree with you there. But do sit down. And now tell me, what makes you leave your brilliant Vienna for our gloomy London—or perhaps the question is indiscreet?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . Well, at any rate, may I know if it is politics or pleasure?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Politics are my only pleasure. You see nowadays it is not fashionable to flirt till one is forty, or to be romantic till one is forty-five, so we poor women who are under thirty, or say we are, have nothing open to us but politics or philanthropy. And philanthropy seems to me to have become simply the refuge of people who wish to annoy their fellow-creatures. I prefer politics. I think they are more … becoming!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . A political life is a noble career!
M RS . C HEVELEY . Sometimes. And sometimes it is a clever game, Sir Robert. And sometimes it
L ADY M ARKBY . She has just arrived from Vienna.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . Ah! yes. I think I know whom you mean.
L ADY M ARKBY . Oh! she goes everywhere there, and has such pleasant scandals about all her friends. I really must go to Vienna next winter. I hope there is a good chef at the Embassy.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . If there is not, the Ambassador will certainlyhave to be recalled. Pray point out Mrs. Cheveley to me. I should like to see her.
L ADY M ARKBY . Let me introduce you.
(To Mrs. Cheveley.)
My dear, sir Robert Chiltern is dying to know you!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN .
(Bowing.)
Everyone is dying to know the brilliant Mrs. Cheveley. Our attachés at Vienna write to us about nothing else.
M RS . C HEVELEY . Thank you, Sir Robert. An acquaintance that begins with a compliment is sure to develop into a real friendship. It starts in the right manner. And I find that I know Lady Chiltern already.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . Really?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Yes. She has just reminded me that we were at school together. I remember it perfectly now. she always got the good conduct prize. I have a distinct recollection of Lady Chiltern always getting the good conduct prize!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN .
(Smiling.)
And what prizes did you get, Mrs. Cheveley?
M RS . C HEVELEY . My prizes came a little later on in life. I don’t think any of them were for good conduct. I forget!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . I am sure they were for something charming!
M RS . C HEVELEY . I don’t know that women are always rewarded for being charming. I think they are usually punished for it! Certainly, more women grow old nowadays through the faithfulness of their admirers than through anything else! At least that is the only way I can account for the terribly haggard look of most of your pretty women in London!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . What an appalling philosophy that sounds! To attempt to classify you, Mrs. Cheveley, would be an impertinence. But may I ask, at heart, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Those seem to be the only two fashionable religions left to us nowadays.
M RS . C HEVELEY . Oh, I’m neither. Optimism begins in a broad grin, and Pessimism ends with blue spectacles. Besides, they are both of them merely poses.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . You prefer to be natural?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Sometimes. But it is such a very difficult pose to keep up.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . What would those modern psychological novelists, of whom we hear so much, say to such a theory as that?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Ah! the strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analyzed, women … merely adored.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . You think science cannot grapple with the problem of women?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Science can never grapple with the irrational. That is why it has no future before it, in this world.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . And women represent the irrational.
M RS . C HEVELEY . Well-dressed women do.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN .
(With a polite bow.)
I fear I could hardly agree with you there. But do sit down. And now tell me, what makes you leave your brilliant Vienna for our gloomy London—or perhaps the question is indiscreet?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . Well, at any rate, may I know if it is politics or pleasure?
M RS . C HEVELEY . Politics are my only pleasure. You see nowadays it is not fashionable to flirt till one is forty, or to be romantic till one is forty-five, so we poor women who are under thirty, or say we are, have nothing open to us but politics or philanthropy. And philanthropy seems to me to have become simply the refuge of people who wish to annoy their fellow-creatures. I prefer politics. I think they are more … becoming!
S IR R OBERT C HILTERN . A political life is a noble career!
M RS . C HEVELEY . Sometimes. And sometimes it is a clever game, Sir Robert. And sometimes it
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