A Woman of No Importance | Page 4

those are the people we respect most.
LADY CAROLINE. I have no doubt of it.
HESTER. Mr. Arbuthnot has a beautiful nature! He is so simple, so sincere. He has one
of the most beautiful natures I have ever come across. It is a privilege to meet HIM.
LADY CAROLINE. It is not customary in England, Miss Worsley, for a young lady to
speak with such enthusiasm of any person of the opposite sex. English women conceal
their feelings till after they are married. They show them then.
HESTER. Do you, in England, allow no friendship to exist between a young man and a
young girl?
[Enter LADY HUNSTANTON, followed by Footman with shawls and a cushion.]
LADY CAROLINE. We think it very inadvisable. Jane, I was just saying what a pleasant
party you have asked us to meet. You have a wonderful power of selection. It is quite a
gift.
LADY HUNSTANTON. Dear Caroline, how kind of you! I think we all do fit in very
nicely together. And I hope our charming American visitor will carry back pleasant
recollections of our English country life. [To Footman.] The cushion, there, Francis. And
my shawl. The Shetland. Get the Shetland. [Exit Footman for shawl.]
[Enter GERALD ARBUTHNOT.]
GERALD. Lady Hunstanton, I have such good news to tell you. Lord Illingworth has just
offered to make me his secretary.
LADY HUNSTANTON. His secretary? That is good news indeed, Gerald. It means a
very brilliant future in store for you. Your dear mother will be delighted. I really must try
and induce her to come up here to-night. Do you think she would, Gerald? I know how
difficult it is to get her to go anywhere.
GERALD. Oh! I am sure she would, Lady Hunstanton, if she knew Lord Illingworth had
made me such an offer.
[Enter Footman with shawl.]
LADY HUNSTANTON. I will write and tell her about it, and ask her to come up and
meet him. [To Footman.] Just wait, Francis. [Writes letter.]
LADY CAROLINE. That is a very wonderful opening for so young a man as you are, Mr.
Arbuthnot.
GERALD. It is indeed, Lady Caroline. I trust I shall be able to show myself worthy of it.
LADY CAROLINE. I trust so.
GERALD. [To HESTER.] YOU have not congratulated me yet, Miss Worsley.
HESTER. Are you very pleased about it?
GERALD. Of course I am. It means everything to me - things that were out of the reach
of hope before may be within hope's reach now.
HESTER. Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.
LADY HUNSTANTON. I fancy, Caroline, that Diplomacy is what Lord Illingworth is

aiming at. I heard that he was offered Vienna. But that may not be true.
LADY CAROLINE. I don't think that England should be represented abroad by an
unmarried man, Jane. It might lead to complications.
LADY HUNSTANTON. You are too nervous, Caroline. Believe me, you are too nervous.
Besides, Lord Illingworth may marry any day. I was in hopes he would have married lady
Kelso. But I believe he said her family was too large. Or was it her feet? I forget which. I
regret it very much. She was made to be an ambassador's wife.
LADY CAROLINE. She certainly has a wonderful faculty of remembering people's
names, and forgetting their faces.
LADY HUNSTANTON. Well, that is very natural, Caroline, is it not? [To Footman.]
Tell Henry to wait for an answer. I have written a line to your dear mother, Gerald, to tell
her your good news, and to say she really must come to dinner.
[Exit Footman.]
GERALD. That is awfully kind of you, Lady Hunstanton. [To HESTER.] Will you come
for a stroll, Miss Worsley?
HESTER. With pleasure [Exit with GERALD.]
LADY HUNSTANTON. I am very much gratified at Gerald Arbuthnot's good fortune.
He is quite a PROTEGE of mine. And I am particularly pleased that Lord Illingworth
should have made the offer of his own accord without my suggesting anything. Nobody
likes to be asked favours. I remember poor Charlotte Pagden making herself quite
unpopular one season, because she had a French governess she wanted to recommend to
every one.
LADY CAROLINE. I saw the governess, Jane. Lady Pagden sent her to me. It was
before Eleanor came out. She was far too good-looking to be in any respectable
household. I don't wonder Lady Pagden was so anxious to get rid of her.
LADY HUNSTANTON. Ah, that explains it.
LADY CAROLINE. John, the grass is too damp for you. You had better go and put on
your overshoes at once.
SIR JOHN. I am quite comfortable, Caroline, I assure you.
LADY CAROLINE. You must allow me to be the best judge of that, John. Pray do as I
tell you.