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Well, at any rate, may I know if it is politics
or pleasure?

MRS. CHEVELEY. 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!

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. A political life is a noble career!

MRS. CHEVELEY. Sometimes. And sometimes it is a clever game, Sir
Robert. And sometimes it is a great nuisance.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Which do you find it?

MRS. CHEVELEY. I? A combination of all three. [Drops her fan.]

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. [Picks up fan.] Allow me!

MRS. CHEVELEY. Thanks.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. But you have not told me yet what makes you
honour London so suddenly. Our season is almost over.

MRS. CHEVELEY. Oh! I don't care about the London season! It is too
matrimonial. People are either hunting for husbands, or hiding from
them. I wanted to meet you. It is quite true. You know what a
woman's curiosity is. Almost as great as a man's! I wanted
immensely to meet you, and . . . to ask you to do something for me.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. I hope it is not a little thing, Mrs. Cheveley.
I find that little things are so very difficult to do.

MRS. CHEVELEY. [After a moment's reflection.] No, I don't think it
is quite a little thing.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. I am so glad. Do tell me what it is.

MRS. CHEVELEY. Later on. [Rises.] And now may I walk through your
beautiful house? I hear your pictures are charming. Poor Baron
Arnheim - you remember the Baron? - used to tell me you had some
wonderful Corots.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. [With an almost imperceptible start.] Did you
know Baron Arnheim well?

MRS. CHEVELEY. [Smiling.] Intimately. Did you?

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. At one time.

MRS. CHEVELEY. Wonderful man, wasn't he?

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. [After a pause.] He was very remarkable, in
many ways.

MRS. CHEVELEY. I often think it such a pity he never wrote his
memoirs. They would have been most interesting.

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Yes: he knew men and cities well, like the old
Greek.

MRS. CHEVELEY. Without the dreadful disadvantage of having a
Penelope waiting at home for him.

MASON. Lord Goring.

[Enter LORD GORING. Thirty-four, but always says he is younger. A
well-bred, expressionless face. He is clever, but would not like to
be thought so. A flawless dandy, he would be annoyed if he were
considered romantic. He plays with life, and is on perfectly good
terms with the world. He is fond of being misunderstood. It gives
him a post of vantage.]

SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Good evening, my dear Arthur! Mrs.

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