The Philanderer

The Philanderer

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Shaw #31 in our series by George Bernard Shaw
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Title: The Philanderer
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5071] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 14,

2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
PHILANDERER ***

Produced by Jim Tinsley

THE PHILANDERER
ACT I
A lady and gentleman are making love to one another in the
drawing-room of a flat in Ashly Gardens in the Victoria district of
London. It is past ten at night. The walls are hung with theatrical
engravings and photographs--Kemble as Hamlet, Mrs. Siddons as
Queen Katharine pleading in court, Macready as Werner (after
Maclise), Sir Henry Irving as Richard III (after Long), Miss Ellen Terry,
Mrs. Kendal, Miss Ada Rehan, Madame Sarah Bernhardt, Mr. Henry
Arthur Jones, Mr. A. W. Pinero, Mr. Sydney Grundy, and so on, but
not the Signora Duse or anyone connected with Ibsen. The room is not
a perfect square, the right hand corner at the back being cut off
diagonally by the doorway, and the opposite corner rounded by a turret
window filled up with a stand of flowers surrounding a statue of
Shakespear. The fireplace is on the right, with an armchair near it. A
small round table, further forward on the same side, with a chair beside
it, has a yellow-backed French novel lying open on it. The piano, a
grand, is on the left, open, with the keyboard in full view at right angles
to the wall. The piece of music on the desk is "When other lips."
Incandescent lights, well shaded, are on the piano and mantelpiece.

Near the piano is a sofa, on which the lady and gentleman are seated
affectionately side by side, in one another's arms.
The lady, Grace Tranfield, is about 32, slight of build, delicate of
feature, and sensitive in expression. She is just now given up to the
emotion of the moment; but her well closed mouth, proudly set brows,
firm chin, and elegant carriage show plenty of determination and self
respect. She is in evening dress.
The gentleman, Leonard Charteris, a few years older, is
unconventionally but smartly dressed in a velvet jacket and cashmere
trousers. His collar, dyed Wotan blue, is part of his shirt, and turns over
a garnet coloured scarf of Indian silk, secured by a turquoise ring. He
wears blue socks and leather sandals. The arrangement of his tawny
hair, and of his moustaches and short beard, is apparently left to Nature;
but he has taken care that Nature shall do him the fullest justice. His
amative enthusiasm, at which he is himself laughing, and his clever,
imaginative, humorous ways, contrast strongly with the sincere
tenderness and dignified quietness of the woman.

CHARTERIS (impulsively clasping Grace). My dearest love.
GRACE (responding affectionately). My darling. Are you happy?
CHARTERIS. In Heaven.
GRACE. My own.
CHARTERIS. My heart's love. (He sighs happily, and takes her hands
in his, looking quaintly at her.) That must positively be my last kiss,
Grace, or I shall become downright silly. Let us talk. (Releases her and
sits a little apart from her.) Grace: is this your first love affair?
GRACE. Have you forgotten that I am a widow? Do you think I
married Tranfield for money?
CHARTERIS. How do I know? Besides, you might have married him

not because you loved him, but because you didn't love anybody else.
When one is young, one marries out of mere curiosity, just to see what
it's like.
GRACE. Well, since you ask me, I never was in love with Tranfield,
though I only found that out when I fell in love with you. But I used to
like him for being in love with me. It brought out all the good in him