Oh, the world has a short memory for a man’s disgrace. It is only with women that it lays down scandal, as it lays down wine, to ripen and mature.
Leslie.
But you will not forget; you will die under the burden of your husband’s past.
Irene.
I! oh, no! What is a man’s past to the woman who marries him!
Leslie.
It is her pride or her shame, the jewel she wears upon her brow or the mud which clings to her skirts! It is her light or her darkness; her life or her death!
Irene.
You’re too young a wife to lecture me like this! The only difference between me and other women will be that Lord Dangars’s story is public and their husband’s vices are unrevealed!
Leslie.