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it before him. What has the result been in his case? He is six or
seven and twenty, and has never yet had the opportunity of
learning what a well-regulated home means.

Oswald. Excuse me, Mr. Manders, you are quite wrong there.

Manders. Indeed? I imagined that your life abroad had practically
been spent entirely in artistic circles.

Oswald. So it has.

Manders. And chiefly amongst the younger artists.

Oswald. Certainly.

Manders. But I imagined that those gentry, as a rule, had not the
means necessary for family life and the support of a home.

Oswald. There are a considerable number of them who have not the
means to marry, Mr. Manders.

Manders. That is exactly my point.

Oswald. But they can have a home of their own, all the same; a
good many of them have. And they are very well-regulated and very
comfortable homes, too.

(MRS. ALVING, who has listened to him attentively, nods assent,
but says nothing.)

Manders. Oh, but I am not talking of bachelor establishments. By
a home I mean family life--the life a man lives with his wife and
children.

Oswald. Exactly, or with his children and his children's mother.

Manders (starts and clasps his hands). Good heavens!

Oswald. What is the matter?

Manders. Lives with-with-his children's mother.

Oswald. Well, would you rather he should repudiate his children's
mother?

Manders. Then what you are speaking of are those unprincipled
conditions known as irregular unions!

Oswald. I have never noticed anything particularly unprincipled
about these people's lives.

Manders. But do you mean to say that it is possible for a man of
any sort of bringing up, and a young woman, to reconcile
themselves to such a way of living--and to make no secret of it,
either!

Oswald. What else are they to do? A poor artist, and a poor girl--
it costs a good deal to get married. What else are they to do?

Manders. What are they to do? Well, Mr. Alving, I will tell you
what they ought to do. They ought to keep away from each other
from the very beginning--that is what they ought to do!

Oswald. That advice wouldn't have much effect upon hot-blooded
young folk who are in love.

Mrs. Alving. No, indeed it wouldn't.

Manders (persistently). And to think that the authorities
tolerate such things! That they are allowed to go on, openly!
(Turns to MRS. ALVING.) Had I so little reason, then, to be sadly
concerned about your son? In circles where open immorality is
rampant--where, one may say, it is honoured--

Oswald. Let me tell you this, Mr. Manders. I have been a constant
Sunday guest at one or two of these "irregular" households.

Manders. On Sunday, too!

Oswald. Yes, that is the day of leisure. But never have I heard
one objectionable word there, still less have I ever seen
anything that could be called immoral. No; but do you know when
and where I have met with immorality in artists' circles?

Manders. No, thank heaven, I don't!

Oswald. Well, then, I shall have the pleasure of telling you. I
have met with it when someone or other of your model husbands

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